The Ascendance of the Overlord and the Shield
by I am the string cutter
Summary: When attemting to complete a long time goal Ainz is transported to another world against his will and away from the family he so dearly loves. Watch as he attempts to get back to them by going the long way round. (Active story)
1. Chapter 1

**The Overlord and the Shield**

**Just a bit of a warning before you start reading! I'm writing this based on the RotSH anime and manga I have not read the light novels. **

**I have read all the Overlord light novels **

**This is a stomp, Ainz is way too broken and powerful for the shield hero world (at least at the start) and putting him in it is just asking for trouble… well i did it anyway hope you guys like it. **

**Ps. AINZ WILL NOT BE GETTING POLYMORPHY! It's a writers crutch. **

**Try not to flame me to hard **

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**

* * *

Thoughts '_You're thinking this is a this is a thought.'_

Talking "Hey listen!"

Overlord spell [Fireball]

Shield hero spell {Zweight quick Aqua Slash}

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It had been fifty years since he arrived in this new world. In that time, with the help of his family, the NPC's of Nazarick, he had gained control over most of the continent. He controlled just under five million square kilometres with races of all different walks of life: Centaurs, Dark Elves, Storm Giants and Dragons, amongst many other races.

The 'war' with Dragon lords was short by comparison as all it took to end it was killing the Platinum Dragon Lord, first son of the Dragon Emperor and they mostly surrendered - they did not want to have another situation like the Eight greed kings- enfaces on mostly.

A particularly powerful True Vampire Dragon Lord would not give up the fight, she began by bringing thousands of the lesser dragons to bare against Ainz' kingdom in an attempt to destroy Nazarick. They only made it to the third floor of Nazarick where Cure Elm and her horde of undead was slain by Shalltier with the assistance of Ainz and Sebas, the dragon's body was still sitting in cold storage on the fifth floor.

As new territory was gained new information began to be revealed. Legends from ages long past of beings from another world and mysterious structures that came with them. They were still legends though, so it was often hard to track down the source. Adventures would flock to the area in the hopes of a big payday. Items and gold would be discovered and on occasion they would be cleared out, devoid of anything except the materials that made up such places. If any items were found, the Sorcerous kingdom would often pay exorbitant sums of money to acquire them such that it would not be worth keeping.

Ainz Ooal Gown, disguised as his adventurer persona Momon of Darkness, had just returned from one of these places: an old guild base from Yggdrasil. Of course, the entire mission had been a bust. Not even a single gold coin, but that didn't diminish his high spirits, because today was the day. Today he would finish the last section of books in Narzaricks great library, the great Library of Asherbinal. He'd been trying to stave off this as much as possible, mostly because of who those books belonged to. Ainz even resorted to reading Peroroncino's section first. It had been enlightening if not... disturbing, to say the least.

After teleporting to the great library's front doors, Ainz pushed the massive doors open with no effort whatsoever and made his way to the front desk where the library's main caretaker was stationed. Titusu Annaeusu Sekundusu, a skeletal lich, stared at Ainz with the normal blank stare most typical undead wore: Unmoving and unable to show emotion.

As Ainz steadily approached, Titus dipped into a deep bow.

"Is today the day, my Lord?" asked Titus in a raspy, gravelly voice.

"Yes it is. Can you please guide me to Luci fer's section? I am anxious to begin."

"By your will my lord. Please follow me." Ainz nodded slightly and they began their walk.

Moments later, they came to their desired destination. A bookshelf stuffed full of novels of all kinds. Some looked like what you'd expect to find in a pranksters collection, such as joke books but also some that looked ominous and dangerous. Resolving himself, Ainz picked the most inauspicious book on the shelf, a brown hardcover book that looked like it had been there for far too long.

Reading the title - one that he felt was very mundane -'The Record of the Four Holy Weapons.' thinking it was a quest item for these weapons back in Yggdrasil, Ainz took the book and sat down at a nearby reading table and began to read with Titus following not far behind.

The book spoke of four mighty heroes summoned from another world to wield four holy weapons of unparalleled might. A Bow, a Sword, a Spear and a Shield. '_World items perhaps or special equipment like world saviour armour and classes?'_ he thought, continuing to read. The objective of these heroes was to fight off the waves, whatever they were. '_Maybe it was a survival game mode and after you finished a certain amount of waves the weapons were acquired as rewards?'_

He kept reading for the better half of an hour when he finally came upon information regarding the shield, it was blank, nothing but white pages. '_Ha, that would be just like Luci fer making a fake quest item and leaving it unfinished…' _"Wait what's going on now?!" he exclaimed as the books empty pages began to flip rapidly and glow in bright yellow, releasing it was a trap Ainz tried to get as far away as he could, even attempting to teleport to a different floor but it wouldn't work! Whatever this book was doing it was stopping any action to avoid its pull. In a state of panic, Ainz yelled to the librarian. "Titus! Contact Albedo! Inform her of what has happened!" For the first time in five decades Ainz blacked out.

"Oh, Heroes! Please save our world!"

Those were the first words Ainz heard when he woke up. Surrounding him were multiple humans, four of which were corpses that looked like they had rapidly aged. Looking down he found that he was standing on top of a large magical circle with words written in a language he could not recognise, he instantaneously understood what had happened. These people had conducted a sacrificial ritual to summon him here along with the young boys standing next to him. The old Theocracy had conducted one once in an attempt to kill him, sacrificing hundreds of lives just to cast a simple 7th tier spell.

"Wait? What?!" The three boys shouted in unison, only to cringe in fear… Ainz was mad, very mad! A dark aura surrounded his body giving physical form to the rage he was feeling. These people had dared to summon him against his will, taken him from his beloved family and now they were asking him to save their world. The sheer hubris!

"**No. I will not!**" He said darkly. He turned to the right and thrust his hand out "[Gate]!"Ainz felt as if all his mana had just vanished in an instant but he did not care, it worked nonetheless and a dark swirling portal opened in front of him.

The mage recognised what he was trying to do and made to stop him "Sir hero wait! You cannot leave you must help us!" he was ignored, Ainz walked into the portal only to suddenly feel like he was flying through the air, he came crashing into the wall on the other side of the room causing the whole tower to shake violently from the impact and the Gate closed.

A notification popped up in his field of view. '**Warning! An attempt to leave this Dimension has been detected and blocked, subsequent attempts will result in loss of levels!' **'_Wait a notification… I have a hud again, but where did it… oh'_ he had finally taken notice of the small steel shield attached to his left arm, he was unable to feel it because of the armor he was wearing. He tried to rip it off his body and discard it but nothing worked.

Giving up he cast "[All appraisal Magic item]" on it. His eyes widened as the new information entered his mind "This thing is a world item!"

"Excuse me, Sir Hero are you okay?" the lonesome mage inquired.

"NO I am not … why can't I leave!?"

"I-I'm sorry Sir hero but you can't." The mage replied nervously with a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"His majesty the King will be able to tell you more shortly as he has asked you and the other heroes for an audience. If you would please follow me." the mage continued, quickly walking off.

Ainz sighed he was still very upset and thought about leaving them here to deal with it on his own but figured it might be prudent to hear them out, it could be advantageous in the long run "Very well. I suppose it can't be helped, lead the way."

AInz followed the mage and the three boys up a winding staircase, passing steel caged window windows that lead to the outside world as they went. Eventually after passing through an empty courtyard and a hallway populated by guards on each side in very low quality armor they came to a large, plain looking door way. The mage opened the doors before they followed him inside.

"Sir heroes if you would please be so kind as to line up beside each other so the king can see you properly, it would be much appreciated." nodding, each of them did as instructed.

"Welcome great cardinal heroes, this is the nation of Melromarc and I am her king, Aultcray Melromarc the thirty second. Please show your faces and identify yourselves." Ainz silently cast an illusion on himself taking on the face of an old acquaintance of his, a more japanese version of Gazef Stronoff. He took off his helm and listened to the three boys introduce themselves. They were standing further away from him than they were with each other. Probably a product of what happened earlier.

"Ren Amaki. I'm a highschool student and I'm sixteen years old."

"I'm Motoyasu Kiramura. College student. Twenty one."

"I suppose I'm up next. Itsaui Kawasumi, still in high school and I'm seventeen."

"_All japanese names… What is it with Japan and getting teleported to another world? Looks like it's my turn."_

"My name is S-"

"Good. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu."

'_Oh great another arrogant leader'…._ "Excuse me Lord Aultcray you seem to have forgotten me." Ainz stated calmly, flexing the diplomatic muscles he had built up over the last half century of political intrigue.

"Ah, forgive me, please introduce yourself."

"My name is Suzuki Satoru, I'm thirty and my occupation is Adventurer, Adamantite class."

"Now then heroes, I want you to confirm to me your status."

_"He just ignored me!"_

"Status?" Itsuki asked curiously.

"You guys are dense, it should have been one of the first things you saw. There's a little icon in the bottom right of your vision, just focus on that." Ren stated. Sure enough there it was a tiny little green box with three little dots and the number one floating above it.

"Do any of you have the number one floating above it?" They each gave Ainz an odd look and answers in the negative.

"No, but try activating it, it could be a notice or something like that." Ainz focused on the little green icon and his vision was filled with a grey box with the word 'Notice' in big bold letters. Under it, it said, **Gear recognition system is offline please remove item: !&%^#$* to reactivate this system.** Understanding what it wanted him to do he closed the notice and looked at the readout beneath it.

**Momonga (Suzuki Satoru)**

**Shield Hero status**

**Level percentage 00.00%**

**Class shield hero: Lvl 1**

**Equipment: Small Shield**

**Skills: none**

**Magic: none**

_**Stats: Shield Hero class + Yggdrasil stats **_

_**HP: 22 + 60000**_

_**MP: 13 + (Exceeds Yggdrasill limit) 120000**_

_**SP: 25 **_

_**Stamina (Undead bonus trait) **__**Infinite**_

**...**

**Yggdrasil Status **

**Skills: 52**

**Special magic: 30**

**Spells: exceeds Limit; 718 **

**Level: 100**

**Level percentage: 99.99% **

**Race classes: expand to show more **

**Job classes: expand to show more **

**Equipment: **_**Error! Cannot be detected! Please remove item !&%^#$* to see equipment.**_

"_Hmm its very similar to Yggdrasil' System. But looking at my shield hero stats they're very reminiscent of what it was like to be a level one starting off back then, they suck..." _

"Brave heroes, if you are done looking over your status could you please follow this maid to a waiting room she will take care of you and bring you anything you need. Dinner will be ready in a few hours."

Motoyasu of course had tried to hit on the poor girl the whole time, thankfully she rejected his advances. Eventually, the maid led them up stairs to said waiting room where she asked them to stay put while their rooms were being finalized.

They sat in a room placed high enough in the castle that they could see the world and city outside, Ainz took the two seater couch closest to the balcony; given his size it should have been considered it may as well of been a single seater. Ren was content with simply leaning up against the wall closest to the doorway to the room, Motoyasu simply sat down on the bed within the room and Itsuki sat on the small embroidered chair across from Ainz. They sat in silence for a few minutes waiting to see who would be the first one to speak.

"This is kind of like the new video game I've been playing... Dimension Weave." Itsuki stated, speaking first.

"It's definitely like the MMO Emerald Online, its huge how have you not heard of it?"

"No your both wrong everything about this place is identical to the Dive-MMO called Brave Star Online."

"Wait you mean like a real VRMMO? that's impossible they don't exist."

"What do you mean they don't exist? That's all they are now... Consoles and Gaming Computers were phased out 20 years ago, it's all streamed to your neural interface."

_"That sounds horrific even back in 2138 I still had a PC to play Yggdrasil, it was never the best but it did its job. I'll have to make something up here to..."_

"I'm unfamiliar with these terms… what is a video game?" asked Ainz, if he had a human body he would be sweating profusely. This situation was uncomfortable. Why did it have to be him!? "_Damit how am i going to explain this it's not like I can say I was transported to another world before… maybe i should just say something and hope it sticks."_

"Right lets sort this out. How about we compare our general knowledge. First, whose face is on the back of the 1million Yen bill 3,2,1" all of them shouted different names.

"What?" The three asked simultaneously

"Ok, ok let's try something else. What year was it before you came here? It was 2023 when I left."

"2052" Itsuki answered

"2127" Ren replied

'_Quick come up with something you idiot! Uh.'_ "The year 2138 of the Age of Gods." '_Great, well done, there's no way they're going to believe that!'_ The three boys simply looked at him in confusion, each raising an eyebrow.

Choosing to move on just hoping to get through this Ainz asked "We are all from Terra, correct? Do you not have magic where you come from?" "_Please work!?"_

"Terra? Didn't Earth used to be called that a long time ago - wait did you say magic? Are you saying magic exists on your Earth?" Motoyasu inquired.

"Yes." he said flatly "That leads me to this - I feel I must apologize for my outburst earlier, I was in a state of rage and panic at being forcibly transported to this world, taken away from my family." stated Ainz, trying to look ashamed of his actions.

"Its fine dont worry about it, in that situation I'd probably feel the same." Ren replied.

"Yeah it's no problem, what I want to know is what was that thing you did earlier - the big swearling oval, was it magic?" asked Itsuki.

"Yes." he said flatly once again. '_Why is this working?!' _Ainz thought. If it were not for his emotional suppression constantly triggering he felt he would have collapsed from stress ages ago. As if to alleviate him there was a knock at the door.

"Sir Heroes, your rooms are ready if you wish to move to them, also dinner will be ready shortly!"

"Thank you." Ren answered. Not moving from his place against the wall. They each nodded at him succinctly.

For the next hour, the four of them discussed the differences of their worlds like historical events, Leaders and technology up until dinner was served - Ainz had also been informed that the shielder was the worst class - he had refused service with the excuse that he did not need to eat or drink because of one of the magical items he was wearing, of course they didn't believe him until he pulled a ring of sustenance out and allowed each of them to try it.

After dinner each of the heroes went to their respective rooms for rest and relaxation. Ainz, well, he was doing the opposite. He had just put up [Information Wall] a simple 3rd tier spell that would prevent eavesdropping from anyone outside a designated area; this area being his room.

When that was complete he reached into his inventory; a pocket dimension that was only accessible by Ainz himself, its outside appearance was similar to that of the [Gate] spell he used earlier in the day. When he pulled his hand back out, clutched within his armored hand was a few intricately detailed gold coins and two small scrolls with a magic circle printed on them.

He placed the scrolls on the ground and then the gold on top of them thus activating the items, there was a bright green flash and in the place of the scrolls were two kneeling Hanzo's - a level 80 mercenary summon from Yggdrasil - they were typically used for reconnaissance and assasination, today they would be used as the former.

"Leave this room and go into the city, find anything above level 50 and report back to me tomorrow when the sun goes down but only if I am alone."

"Yes Lord!" they acknowledged in unison disappearing in a black blur.

He spent the first half of the night on his bed going over his classes and studying the new skill tree the shield granted him access to. He quickly realised that even with his 100 levels in Yggdrasil he could not access the full tree without killing and absorbing monster parts or items, it made him wonder what this shield could do if he was able to absorb the corps of Cure Elm that was still sitting inside Nazarick, he felt excited just thinking about it, it didn't last, as it was immediately killed by his emotion suppressor.

Sighing at the lost emotion, he got up and moved to the relative center of the room and switched to his main set of gear freeing his bleach white skull from the confines of his helmet; he couldn't do what he wanted while in that set. He raised one of his hands to the empty spot in front of him and summoned a [Death knight].

In the place he pointed to a grey mass of negative energy appeared, the mass quickly formed into a three meter monstrosity of fear and brutality that barely fit in the room. In its left hand was a massive spiked black tower shield and in its right was a two meter long flamberge that could cut through Mithril like a hot knife through butter.

It let out a roar so loud that it probably would have shattered the wooden glass doors in the room and woken up half the castle if it weren't for the field that encased the room. It looked to Ainz waiting for orders - ones it would gladly accept.

Ainz got off the bed and made his way over to the massive undead. He stopped in front of it and thrust an open cupped hand to it. "Break off three of your fingers and give them to me." The creature nodded in acknowledgement before dropping its shield and sword on the floor, grabbing its right hand with its left and broke its fingers off, tearing them off in one go at the joint without so much as a whimper of pain. It passed the items to its master, picked up its weapons and went back into standby, ready for a new command.

Ainz turned around, placing the new items over the green jewel in the middle of the tiny shield that sat on his arm. The shield glowed blue, absorbing the items. When it was finished Ainz heard a 'da-ding' sound in his head, then a new shield tree branch popped up into his vision.

**Attention! New material accepted! Death Knight tower Shield unlocked!**

**Attention! Negative Field ability unlocked! **

**Attention! Jaws of Bone ability unlocked!**

**Notice! Access to Death Knight shield is restricted! Reach level 35 to use! **

'_Yes! Experiment complete! So this means I can even use Yggdrasil monster parts! But what is that about Negative field? That isn't an ability of a Death Knight? Could it be similar to my skill Negative Burst? I'll have to figure it out later since I can't seem to access it now.' _

The rest of his night was spent in the books he had in his inventory, diaries and novels his friends had either made or transferred into the game long ago… he must have read them each a hundred times over by now but each time he did, he felt a growing sense of nostalgia that never seemed to fade.

When morning finally arrived and the Death Knight had turned to ash because its summon time had ended, a maid knocked on his door. "Sir hero the King has beckoned you for an audience with the other heroes."

"I see, please wait a moment I will be out shortly." he exclaimed, switching back to his armor.

When he and the other heroes arrived they noticed the 12 people lined up in front of the throne: a mix of female and male, all dressed in adventure gear. After waiting for a bit the king entered the room followed by a man Ainz could only assume to be the king's adviser.

"Thank you for coming brave Heroes today you will be forming your parties, I sent out a call last night for adventurers to aid you in your journey, evidently that call did not go unheard." The King stated proudly.

"Adventurers, at your discretion please choose the Legendary Hero you wish to join and travel with." the adventures accepted the advisers proclamation and began to move. Each lined up behind their desired hero with an unexpected result - at least for Ainz it was.

Behind Ren were five, behind Itsuki stood three and five behind Motoyasu. While Ainz had an astronomical amount of 0. "That's unexpected what is it with this shield that people hate so much?" Ainz stated to no one in particular.

Whispers could be heard from the nobles standing in the rows of seats above the throne, as well as the king and his advisor.

"Lord Aultcray could you please explain to me what is happening?" Ainz questioned in a noble manner.

"Apparently there is a rumor being spread that you, the shield hero does not know much about our world."

'_It was probably the maid that was stationed outside the waiting room while we spoke last night.' _thought Ainz, trying to connect the dots.

"Is there anyone who would be willing to follow the Shield hero."

Instead of moving behind Ainz the adventurers only moved closer to their respective hero. Ainz was about to announce the fact that he didn't require anyone to help, if he did he could summon a high level entity to do anything he requires. He stopped himself from saying so when the beautiful red head who was looking at him early stuck her hand up and moved out of line from behind Motoyasu.

"Are you sure you wish to do this?" Asked the King with a mynute hint of worry in his voice

"Yes my king." She replied in a cheery voice.

Most men would have lost their breath when looking at the beauty, but not Ainz, when he compared her to Abedo, Shalltear or even the Pleiades battle maids she was simply… average, just another human girl he would pass by in the street. Though Ainz did feel some solace at the fact that someone had joined his party but it faded as all emotions did.

"Anyone else?" the King asked and again no one moved.

"I see, very well, since no one else wishes to join you Mr. Satoru you will be given a bonus of 200 silver to your warchest, you will also have to gather more members to add to your party on your own." Ainz nodded slightly accepting the advise

"Now, as his majesty mentioned before, Sir Ren, Itsaski, and Motoyasu will receive 600 silvers while Mister Satoru will receive 800 silvers please accept these warchests, this allowance will be given to you each month. On behalf of the kingdom of Melromarc please accept them so you may begin your path towards saving this world."

When they reached the outside gate - with a large coin purse strapped to his side. The girl approached Ainz from behind and placed a hand on his forearm to gain his attention.

"It's nice to meet you Sir Hero, my name is Myne Suphia." the girl stated, extending her hand out.

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs Suphia, my name is Suzuki Satoru but please call me Suzuki." he said taking her hand and shaking lightly.

They then began their walk out of the castle and through the sprawling city below - leaving the other heroes to discuss amongst themselves.

On their walk Ainz had begun to ask some questions about melromarc and her people. It turns out that melromarc is a matriarchy something that Ainz had yet to encounter in the New World though he had come across something close to it, the old Roble Holy kingdom. It was once ruled by a Queen but it was summarily destroyed when Jaldebaoth attacked.

Ainz then learned that melromarc practiced human supremacy with demi-humans kept as slaves, his opinion of melromarc sunk dramatically and sunk lower as the minutes ticked by; slavery is inefficent and detramental to a country's economical groath. It had been outlawed the moment the Sorcerer's kingdom had been founded and then a few months later when the Baharuth Empire submitted as a vassal state.

Myne had suggested that they go to a local weapons dealer but Ainz flat out declined, he wouldn't show it but he was very excited to start leveling up again and any gear he had on him would be leagues above what they had here.

When they reached the grass plain; somewhere Myne had suggested to start leveling up. As they arrived at a clear spot, Ainz spotted some entities hiding among the grass. When he got closer he saw that they were a type of rubber ball monster with teeth, he wondered inturnaly how such a thing could survive like that. They quickly gave him his answer when six of them rushed him.

Seeing this he ran at them and swatted one away with the shield killing it on impact, he then in quick succession punched at the remaining five killing them instantly.

When he killed the balloons Ainz felt something change within him like he'd gained something that wasn't there before, then a notification appeared in his vision that said "**Level Up" **he closed the notification and another one popped up with a little (i) icon to the far right of it. "**Shards of Yggdrasil Unlocked!"** excitement quickly grew when he saw this. He focused on the little (i) hoping it would give him what he thought it meant. Another screen appeared in his view, though this time it was Yggdrasil UI.

**Shards of Yggdrasil System**

"_You have discovered a Shard of Yggdrasil! The shard emanates with overwhelming power perhaps it can be used to better yourself?" _

Shards of Yggdrasil are not normal allocation points, they can be used to either significantly upgrade your stats or to unlock new job or race classes previously inaccessible to you. Any changes made will be permanent and can not be changed. Please take this into account when deciding on placement. More Shards can be gained by leveling up.

XP required for next shard (00005 / 10100)

His sheer joy at being able to level up had overwhelmed his emotional suppression as it had been constantly triggering for the last minute. He closed the notification and opened up his status quickly.

**Momonga (Suzuki Satoru)**

**Shield Hero status**

**Level percentage 25.00%**

**Class shield hero: Lvl 2**

**Equipment: Small Shield**

**Skills: none**

**Magic: none**

_**Stats: Shield Hero class + Yggdrasil stats **_

_**HP: 167 + 60000**_

_**MP: 47 + 120000**_

_**SP: 50 **_

_**Stamina (Undead bonus trait) **__**Infinite**_

**...**

**Yggdrasil Status **

**Skills: 52**

**Special magic: 30**

**Spells: exceeds Limit; 700+ **

**Level: 101**

**Level percentage: 00.001%**

**Shards of Yggdrasil: (01) **

**Race classes: expand to show more **

**Job classes: expand to show more **

**Equipment: **_**Error! Cannot be detected! Please remove item !&%^#$* to see equipment.**_

"I did it I Leveled up! After so many years of trying I finally did it!" Ainz shouted loud and joyfully until his suppressor kicked in again and it was gone. He opened up the Yggdrasil part of his character screen and put the new allocation point into the job class (War mage). This class would grant him access and allow him cast more spells than the inisial 5 he could access while wearing his heavy armor but it was restricted to fire and siege spells such as [nuclear explosion] and [vermilion nova].

He still wouldn't be able to cast supertier magic in his armor until he got the job class to level 5, though if absolutely necessary he could switch back to his normal divine level set opening up all of his classes and spells.

To test his new class out he picked a large group of balloons off in the distance and cast [fireball], a small incandescent flame flew out of his hand at great speed towards the unknowing creatures, by the time they saw it they were already dead. The fireball exploded leaving a small crater and nothing but ash that were once balloons.

Myne quickly ran over to see what he was shouting about asking if anything was wrong but she was able to feel the happiness wafting off of him but she had one lingering question.

"Sir Hero what was that spell you used just now? I've never seen anything like it." Mynes' question brought him back to a more rational state of mind.

"It was a simple fireball spell, nothing more." he said flatly. "Mrs Suphia if would allow me a question of my own, is there a way to share experience between a party's individual members?"

Mynes face was taken over by a small scowl that she quickly rendered normal again. "Yes there is, just picture you're sending me a party invite."

"Oh, that's easy enough, here" he replied, sending the aforementioned request.

When she accepted the invite Myne spoke again. "If we're going to be serious about getting stronger I'd like to suggest you get me stronger armor and a better sword, maybe if we go back into the weapons shop you can get me one there, this one was already on its way out." She announced showing him a sword that amounted to a rusted piece of trash.

"Hmm I see. For now take this, I wish to stay here a while longer." Ainz said opening his inventory and pulling out a small chinese short sword. Its hilt was small and bronze with an image of a bright small star printed on the tang between the handle and small silver steel blade, the grip for the sword was a spiraling navy blue ribbon.

It was only a medium grade item so Ainz didn't feel worried letting the girl borrow it. "As for your armor all I can do now is cast a few support spells on you."

[Body of Effulgent Beryl] [Body of Effulgent Aquamarine] Mynes's body was surrounded by a bright yellow and deep purple aura for a few seconds. She then instinctively felt like she could take a single hit from god and survive. She looked at Ainz in wonder for a second and frowned slightly. Ainz of course didn't notice it and stated "These should protect you from those ball monsters for a few sustained hits, but please don't be needlessly reckless in your attacks."

"A-as you say Sir Hero!" she said in a cheery voice

Soon dusk fell and they returned to town with a satchel full of monster material; they went straight for the most famous blacksmith in town - the one Myne had suggested earlier this morning.

It wast long before they reached the blacksmith, it didn't stand out much as it looked like every other town house that stood next to it. The only indicator that it was a blacksmith was the red and white coat of arms that sat above its entrance.

When they entered Ainz noticed the rather tall and bulky human sitting behind the wooden counter at the other end, then looked around the shop and saw the assortment of swords, spears, bows, armor and shields that were all placed on weapon racks throughout the shop.

He made his way to the counter, "Greetings, I'd like to purchase some new equipment or my companion here." the man looked at them over, his eyes lingered on the girl for maybe a bit too long. "Miss have we met before you look familiar."

"Sure..." she exclaimed grabbing Ainz by the arm and standing behind him. For the blacksmith it looked almost comical. "... I've been here before, your shop is rather anamed after all."

"Aww sweet of you to say miss, anyway, who is you knightley looking friend here?"

"My name is Suzuki Satoru, Shield Hero, I'm glad to make your acquaintance."

"Well now, the shield hero you certainly look the part but you're probably still a dud like the rumors say… what can I get ya."

"_Seriously what is it with this shield?" _

"I will leave it up to Miss Suphia to decide, it will be her gear after all. In the meantime, might I take a look at your highest level weapons and armor?"

"Yeah, right this way but I don't see why you need it, the stuff your wearing looks like its of way higher quality than anything in here, where did you get it?" The blacksmith questioned leading him to the plate armor on the wall.

"I wish to compare. As for where I acquired it… one of my Children made it." he replied sadly." After appraising the steel armor on the rack, there was only one word that came to mind "_Trash." _everything was top tier or lower.

"Children? Well you must be very proud."

"More than you can ever imagine!" He stated proudly. "On that fact I wish to make a wager with you, have you the time for it?"

"A wager hmm? Alright let's hear it."

Ainz pulled two bars of metal out of his inventory of a type the blacksmith hadn't seen before. "This is Star Silver, it's a very rare material from my world, it is the same metal that was used in the forging of this armor, if you can make a shield out of it that matches this armor in design in hmm... 10 days that should be enough, I'll pay double whatever I spend on Miss Suphia today plus the construction of the shield."

"And if I lose?"

"You give me back the metal and triple of what I spend today." The blacksmith chuckled lightly and grinned widely. "Your ON!"

"Hey, guys if you're done can I get this please?" Myne inquired, a pile of steal light armor and longsword sitting in front of her on the counter.

"Sure thing little miss, let me have a look here... that'll be 600 silver!"

"Hmm, that's a little too much, how low can you go before you start to lose on it? Ainz asked, fully knowing what the blacksmith was trying to do.

"I can come down to 520 silver, that's the best I can do or you'll be eating into prophets..."

"That's understandable, Miss Suphia what is the average cost of a meal and a night for the inns around town."

"There's no need to worry about that Sir Hero, the stronger I am the more loot we can collect from monsters, right? She quipped flirtatiously, grabbing his forearm and placing her breasts against it.

To say he felt awkward would be an understatement! "Miss Suphia, could you please release my arm, your advances are appreciated, but unwarranted, I am married." '_That's a complete lie!' _

"Oh, I see… my apologies then." she replied awkwardly and released his arm.

Ainz looked at the blacksmith who was scratching the top of his head and looking down as if trying to forget the event. "Ahem…" Ainz coughed attempting to get the man's attention. "I accept your price, we will take all these."

"Ah, that's great hero, gotta say you have a nose for good business!"

"Thank you Sir hero." Myne chirped happily.

"Before we go, could you tell me if there is a trader or merchant in this city who will exchange Monster parts for coin."

"Oh, yeah there is one down the street but I hear his exchange rate sucks so it might be worth looking around for a better dealer."

"Thank you, the help is most welcome."

"No worries you take care now and I'll have that shield ready before you know it.

"Hmph, We will see."

It was already night by the time they found a decent inn and myne was beginning to become hungry "Miss Suphia I will pay for your meals and then I fear I must turn in for the day."

"Oh no, Sir hero, I was hoping you would join me for dinner and a glass of wine. I hear they have an exquisite vintage here, are you sure you don't want to stay and try it with me?"

"I'm sorry but Perhaps another time, not tonight there are other things I must do." he said flaty, shaking the bag and the shield.

"I see then, I'll head up after I'm done."

When Ainz got to his room he locked his door and put up another [Information wall], he then went to the rooms only windows and opened them, allowing the Hanzo's who were standing on the wall outside to enter and kneel inside.

"Report."

"Yes my lord, we are sorry to report we have found nothing that fits the typical description of level 50."

"Elaborate. What do you mean by typical description?"

"Yes lord! While we have found multiple entities over level 50 there stats are not consistent with that of a normal level 50

"Can you give me an example?"

"Oh, yes my Lord there is a wolf creature of some kind. It is indead level 75 but Its stats are more consistent with that of a level 30 beast man."

"Interesting… where is it located?" he asked incredulously.

"Near the east side of town. Held within a cage Inside what appears to be a large yellow and grey war tent. It is also surrounded by lots of other creatures and a few very low level demi humans."

"Thank you I will look into it at a later time. For now you may leave, separate and continue your search, stay within a fifteen kilometre raidious and notify me if you find anything interesting.

"By your will O summoner!"

As they left, Ainz sat down on the bed and started feeding the material he got from the balloon monsters to his Shield. It took a decent number of scraps to unlock the rather aptly named orange and yellow shields, all they did was give him a insignificant stat increase, but nothing more.

Deciding he wasn't going to just sit around all night, he put the now lighter silver pouch into his inventory and cast [Greater Teleportation] leaving an empty room behind, unaware of the plot taking shape to tarnish his name.

Ainz appeared next to the tree he had been grinding next to all day. He stayed there casting [fireball] after [fireball] killing hundreds, probably thousands of little ball monsters gaining level after level after level, reducing them all to ash and dust.

When the sun rose to greet him for his third day on this world he had unequivocally had enough of grinding these stupid little monsters and returned to his room via [Gate]

Upon returning there was an incessant knocking and shouting at his door.

"Shield hero! Open this fucking door! The king wants to talk to you!"

Ainz opened the door before the soldier could start knocking again, the man's hand mid swing.

"What seems to be the problem, is the king in need of my services?"

"Yeah you could say that… you're under arrest!"

Ainz backed away slightly in panic "What for? This has to be some kind of misunderstanding?"

"You'll have to ask the king when you get there, come quietly or else."

"I see, I will come quietly in hopes that we can sort this out, I am willing to work with you. I would not jeopardize myself for no reason." he said calmly turning around with his arms behind his back.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Is it not proper procedure to cuff someone under arrest or is that not a policy of this nation?"

"No it is we were just expecting you to resist a little that's all."

"I have done nothing wrong. I simply wish to sort this out in a civilised manner therefore I have no reason to resist."

"I see then thank you shield hero." It took some time to find cuffs big enough to fit around Ainz' armored hands, he was willing to work with them but he flat out refused to take off his armor for any reason.

As they reached the castle's gate the man who had arrested him handed him over to another more gruff looking soldier, this one was much less considerate of Ainz' plite.

When pushing him didn't work the man resorted to yelling "Get a move on!" when Ainz did as instructed and moved faster the man would shout "Slow down! Are you trying to flee you coward?" When Ainz replied calmly "No, I was simply doing as instructed." the man would become angry and start yelling, they continued this dance until they reached the throne room.

Inside were nobles, the mage who had summoned them, the King and his advisor, a taller man in a green cloak, the other 3 heroes and finally Myne who was cowering behind motoyasu.

Ainz was taken to the middle of the room where he was surrounded by guards who then pointed odd three prong spears at his helm, some had chosen to stand by further out but ainz could tell they were tense.

"Miss Suphia are you ok?" he asked with a tone of worry, in response she further cowered into Motoyasus sholder.

"_What the hell is going on?" _

"Your majesty this has to be some kind of misunderstandi-

"Silence You Filth!" the king shouted in rage.

"What is going on?"

"Haar…" sighed Aultcray leaning into his rested arm and closing his eyes "Myne my dear i'm sorry to ask, but would you please repeat your testimony?

"Mm-hm."she whimpered "I-it happened last night, the shield hero forced his way into my room... He was stinking drunk. He grabbed me and pinned me down on my bed and said something like "the night is still young, my dear" and the next thing I know he was tearing all my clothes off..."

'_What is she talking about? I was in the field all night. Could it be something like a greater doppelganger or an illusionist?' _

"...Somehow I managed to escape, I ran down the hall for help I found Sir Motoyasu who happened to be staying in the inn."

'_What the hell?'_

"If she had not asked me to wait till morning to call the knights I would have gladly cut you down myself." Motoyasu stated angrily, holding Myne tightly to his chest.

"That could not have been me, I didn't stay there last night. I did not require sleep so I went out into the field to level up. I can-

"I said Silence devil! I will not suffer to hear your belialed excuses a moment longer! To think the cardinal shield would commit the greatest sin in this country!"

'_Devil? What is going ON?!'_

"In Melromarc even attempted sexual assault on a woman is punishable by death! The adviser announced.

'_Think! you idiot… damn it I'm sorry for using you like this again Albedo."_

"Your majesty I assure you it wasn't me I have a wife and family in my world, why would I stoop so low to cheat on her with a girl who has barely passed her 18th year?"

"I do not dane to know the goings on inside a monster's head!"

"If you are so sure I did it. Please dispense with the pleasantries and show me some proof for these baseless accusations?"

The king nodded to the soldier who brought him in from the Castle gate. "When we performed a search of the Shield heroes room we… um found this your Majesty, strewn across his bed ." the Knight stated holding up a torn frilly purple bra. Seeing this Myne blushed a deep shade of red, squealed, hid her face and ran behind Motoyasu once again.

"You fucking animal!" the spear hero shouted angrily.

'_This is definitely a setup… but who initiated it?'_

"The proof seems rather undeniable don't you think?" Aultcray stated confidently.

"How so that could have been planted. It wasn't there when I returned to my room nor was it there when I left last night."

"Silence shield devil!

"So you're a cheating bastard and a rapist to boot, I would have thought you were someone with higher moral values than this? I guess because you think you're a hero you could get away with it." said Itsuki.

Seeing that both motoyasu and itsuki were both against him ainz turned to Ren in the hopes someone would at least see reason "Sir Ren in the past few days you've known me have I at any point seemed like the kind of man to do this kind of thing?"

"I can't say, I don't know you."

Myne opened the hands that were covering her face and smiled dainty, her left hand then fell away from her face and her right pulled down the underside of her eye slightly, revealing the pink flesh underneath, to further add insult to injury she stuck out her tongue.

"**Oh so that is what is going on here…**" Suzuki said in a deep voice far deeper than his normal tone. He snapped the chain binding his cuffs together and moved to step forward, before his armored foot even reached the red carpet below. The world froze… time came to complete stop, nothing moved, not even air inside the room, everything. All except Ainz Ooal Gown.

In this world rid of time Ainz moved past the guards that had surrounded him, weaving between the multiple three pron spears that had been in his way, calmly moved past the three 'heroes' and to the conniving bitch that had caused this stupid mess... He waited for time to resume its flow placing his large hand on her tiny neck just under chin. When the [Time Stop] spell ended he picked the girl up before she even realized what was happening, when she did her eyes widened and she screamed in fear.

For those who had witnessed what happened Ainz would have looked like he blurred out of existence and appeared with the girl in his hands. When the nobles saw this, they bolted for the door, only to find it locked.

"You don't realise who you're messing with, do YOU?! I've been nothing but polite and candid towards you and this country and what do I get for it? A stuck up bitch that is intent on slandering my name."

"Sir Motoyasu help me?!" screamed Myne.

"Why you bastard! Let her GO!" the Spear Hero yelled, finally realizing where the armored knight had gone, charging at him with his spear. In response Ainz turned his body, his right arm extending as he did so and caught the tip of the spear in between two of his fingers. Try as he might the spear hero could not remove his weapon from the iron grip.

By this time Itsuki and Ren had moved to flank him attacking from each side. Itsuki shot a flaming arrow and Ren swung his sword as hard as he could. Both, aiming for the neck of the Shield hero, and both failed to hit their mark, bouncing off the Passive Shield that encased their targets body.

"What the hell was that?" asked Itsuki

"You were too weak to get past my defences… any attack from a being or beings under level 61 will bounce off me just as your attacks just now did."

"But how is that possible? There's no way you could have leveled up that quick your only the shield?" Ren asked in confusion.

"And you would be correct if not for the fact that I was already level 100 when I was transported to this world, I've only gained 5 shield levels grinding all yesterday and last night." '_Those balloons are way too weak.' _

"Bu-"[Shock Wave] Ainz Incanted cutting off Itsuki and sending all three 'heroes' and the guards to the other side the giant room, sliding along the floor and into the wall, knocking them and the nobles out.

In what she thought was a moment of ignorance Myne stabbed him in the back of his neck where she could see a small gap; with the sword he had bought for her earlier, Myne smiled at successful hit and thought. _'This idiot will bleed for ruining my fun!'_

Her grin instantly turned fearful when he grabbed the sword with his gloved hand and twisted, snapping it in two. "Were you listening to a single word I said, any attacks under level 61 will do nothing to me. Do not think yourself as an exception to that rule."

"Tha-

"I noticed yesterday you seem to like using your body to manipulate others, lets see how much you like it when you're trapped inside it." [Extend Boosted Magic: Paralyse] Mynes's body went limp like a ragdoll, and meekly fell out of Ainz' hand as he opened it and turned to the thrones.

"For you my foolish king... [Force Teleport]" the king disappeared in blue light and reapered in Ainz' hand. "I wish to know how I might leave this world, tell me and I may think to forgive you for these ridiculous accusations. If you do not… Well, I may not be able to leave this world but I can bring others here...for example, a little angel girl from my world, a creation of beings more powerful than the gods whose only purpose is to slaughter said gods. Should I choose to unleash her upon this world nothing will survive I hope that gives you incentive to answer my questions?"

"Yes! yes!" he replied in fear. "Just don't hurt my daughter!"

"Daughter? What daughter?" asked Ainz, intently looking into the eyes of the king. Unbeknownst to Aultcray his eyes momentarily drifted to the limp unmoving girl on the floor.

"Oh, her. So this was a setup… that is irrelevant now. She's not dead if that's what you're so worried about, just… otherwise occupied. Now how do I leave?.

"You can't! Not until you die or fend off all the waves!" Aultcray shouted in desperation.

"That's not what I want to hear…"

"That's all I know! I swear!"

"I see, then it seems I am forced to stay here... How long until the next wave and how often do they appear?"

"Four weeks, the dra-

"My king you can't! he-!" his adviser shouted urgently, Only for his voice cut out inside his throat when Ainz cast [Perfect Silence] on him.

"You were saying…"

"Y-yes, the dragon hourglass tells us when the next wave will come."

"Where can I find this hour glass?"

"Inside the three heroes church! the building with the three great towers in the middle of town."

"Whether you want me to or not I'm going to save this world." Ainz stated ominously, bringing the king just close enough to the eye slit in his helm to see the deep red soul fire within.

Aultcray' eyes went wider in fear. "W-what are you?" He asked meekly.

"You wanted a devil of the shield? You got one." He announced throwing the royal 'lightly' into his throne with enough force to crack the wood it was made of. Ainz then turned in one fluid motion - his long red Cape flowing as if there was a light breeze within the room - and made his way to leave. He stopped just before the bitch and looked down at her, her eyes wide in fear, wimpers leaking from her barely audible vice. "You people will not take anything else from me." he declared, pointing at the armor she stole.

[Destroy Lesser Object] the ammor started to creak and crack then disintegrated into blue motes of light that floated away into the aether. All he left the girl with was the leather dress she had on when they met. Then continued on his way.

He suddenly stopped before the exit and looked up to the balcony overlooking the throne room and spoke "I hope you enjoyed the show, girl in the shadows." Then left, punching one of the massive doors right off its hinges and leaving a fist shaped crater.

"Shit."

* * *

**So I know some of you are going to point out that Ainz being able to use gate to get back to nazarick is a bit broken so to counter that I'd like to point out that in Yggdrasil [Gate] was the main spell players used to get around the 9 realms ( 9 individual planets separated by different dimensions) To also add to my point I'd like to direct you to the overlord wiki where the description of the spell is listed. "Summons a portal, allowing travel of a large number of people over great distances. It has no limits on distance and a 0% chance of teleport mishaps. It is considered to be the highest tier of teleportation magic." **

**Also Ainz may not even get the cursed series unless I can figure out how to make him really really mad like kill someone from Nazarick mad so if you have any suggestions I'll take em. On the other hand I could make something up like a different line of curse series, for example Dark Genesis series that is unlocked gradually by absorbing the naturally occurring negative energy Ainz exudes but it can also be quickly unlocked by pumping ridiculous amounts of negative energy into it.**

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think**


	2. Chapter 2

**Overlord and the shield **

**I need to state that it could typically take me 2 weeks - to a month or more to write a chapter. I have other stuff to do and that takes priority, that's all. That said this took me longer than I thought it would. I wanted to get the Raphtalia scene correct and not just hand wave it and move on, the guys on the overlord fanfic discord think the one I ended up with was pretty good hope you think so too.**

**PS. I wanted to get the first wave done this chapter but I figured you guys have waited long enough.**

**Thanks to Oblivion2991 for his addition to the slave tent scene! **

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**

* * *

**Review replies. You guys are fucking insane i was overwhelmed by the amount of reviews, follows and faves i got i feel like i need to reply to some of the love and critsism!**

**Mordicus18 (and others)**

Thank you for thinking so. To the other part of your review. Ainz is smart enough to know that outright killing the king, his daughter and the heroes would put a massive target on his back which would result in him being hunted to the end of the world and back. What he needed in that situation was information and humans tend to give that out when under duress. The way he went about doing what he did put a less substantial target on his back but a target nonetheless. He was going to have one anyway so it may as well have been on his terms.

Make no mistake he didn't kill anyone sure, but he did humiliate them.( When dealing with Nazarick you need to remember one thing. _**Death is a Mercy**_)

Myne especially, the spell he put on her will last a while because of the level difference, imagine being stuck inside your body unable to move for an unknown amount of time. You couldn't eat or drink without assistance and going to the toilet would be… well you get the picture. By the end you would probably start to hate being you too.

**Edward Anthony Aparecio**

Ainz doesn't give a shit about this world, the only reason he is trying to save it is because he wants to go home. He believes slavery is a stupid concept and will be making ultimatums later on to deal with it.

He doesn't quite know what "saving the world" means yet so destroying an entire country because they practice slavery could mean hard repercussions later on. And result in not _"saving the world"_, it's why he's going about it the way he is. As for the other part of your review read the bit at the end.

**Daniel-Palacio**

While I have been working with him on one of my other stories I am not oblivion2991, thx for the comparison though lol.

**ZeroSenpai**

Myne/Malty is an **arrogant** bitch and to quote her mother, a "pathological liar". she fabricated her story purely to fuck over the shield hero, she went along with her plan based on that fact alone. What she didn't account for in her plan was Ainz being, well… Ainz. She doesn't care who or what he was or the power he holds, only that he was the shield hero.

**Chaosconetic**

Bit of a spoiler so don't read if you don't want any. Ainz will still be getting Filo at roughly the same point in the future. But he's also going to be getting a mount truly befitting a shield devil later on, Filo definitely won't like it though.

**Gallerian**

He is a skeleton. He cast an illusion on himself and took on the appearance of a human to take off his helmet, just like he did when he was meeting the swords of darkness for the first time.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"_I should have killed them!" _Ainz thought as he walked down the main street with crowds of people parting as he approached, instead of disgust like he expected he only saw fear. He didn't know why they were running away from him. "_The news from the castle shouldn't have gotten out yet, maybe it was something else."_

Stopping in the middle of the street, he glanced up to look at his HUD and in the top left corner, just beside his resource gage were the words [Aura of despair I] pulsating red. He instantly felt like an idiot, he was so distracted by what happened in the throne room that he had subconsciously activated the skill.

He deactivated the skill and continued walking, apologising to the people he scared. They didn't accept his apology of course, they just resorted to looking at him like he was diseased.

Further into the city he reached a small street market that was bursting to the brim with activity, a woman with a child inspecting a small fruit stall, a mage entertaining children and adults alike and an angry old shop teller yelling at street urchins for stealing.

It all reminded him so much of Carne, the biggest city in his empire. It was once a small little farming village but over time it eventually outgrew the title and became the central trade city for the continent, it was now bigger than Arwinter; a fact he was still very proud of.

He was brought out of his musings when a familiar voice called out to him "Hey Shield bro!?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled, walking over to the blacksmith.

"You know, you got a lotta nerve showing yer` face around here again after what you did to that girl you were with!"

"So you believe those lies as well." he replied calmly "I thought you were smarter than that. How disappointing." stated Ainz, shaking his head and walking away.

"Hey! Wait! hang on second?" the blacksmith shouted, only to be ignored. He shook his head and went back to his shop, he still had a bet to win.

…

After a long walk around the city - it wasn't so much a walk of shame but Ainz familiarising himself with the area - he finally came back to the large city square the king had mentioned, he made his way to the church he could see; what he assumed to be the church as it was the largest building outside the castle itself.

It was massive with all of its three towers standing over thirty meters tall, on top of each of the towers was a representation of one of the holy weapons.

On top of the first blue tower was a sword, on the center and red tower was the depiction of the spear and on the far right was a yellow tower with the depiction of a bow. Ainz suddenly realised why the shield was hated so much, this ridiculous country had formed a damned religion around the other three heros.

"_No wonder why I was targeted so aggressively." _he thought. Continuing inside he was met with a rather average looking woman in a white nuns outfit with gold trim fabric at the ends of her habbid and dress.

"Hello Sir Adventure how may I- oh the shield hero how may I serve you today?" she began in a cheery voice but after seeing the item on his arm her tone became flat with hints of disgust.

"I wish to see the dragon hourglass, if I may?" he answered in reply.

"And how do you know such a thing?" The nun asked in mild surprise.

"The king… informed me of its existence not too long ago."

"I see… this way." she stated lazily, gesturing to follow.

Along the way he had asked her about the dragon hour glass and what else it did besides telling them when the next wave would come, in reply all his guide would say was "I am not at liberty to discuss those details."

Understanding he would not get any further by asking her, he simply continued to follow her in silence. He could have used memory manipulation magic on her but he was unsure of her protections, besides he would need it later.

"_Best to keep trump cards in reserve." _W_ho knows when he'll need it. Also, it costs an awful _amount _of mana to use it. _It is just not worth wasting on such a low level nun.

As they walked forward, eventually they reached a large hexagonal room with a white intricate ceiling. In its center was a raised platform with the same detail as the roof. In the very middle of the raised platform was the object he was seeking.

The dragon hourglass consisted of a multilayered neck that allowed for sand to trickle down slowly, the glass neck was encased in a gold filigree that followed the contours of the glass down and swirled back-up and ended with a perched roaring dragon and to either side of the center of the neck of glass, inlaid within the gold were 3 spinning red orbs of dark red crystal.

As he got closer the hidden stairs that lead to the platform raised from below and his shield started to vibrate madly, then it shot a bright green laser at the center orb and a new bright neon pink timer started to count down in the middle of his hud.

**18d** **13h 26m 12s**

Wanting to analyze it further he held up his armor clad arm and began to cast appraisal magic on the hourglass only to be interrupted by shouting.

"Stop right there shield devil!" said a familiar obnoxious voice. Turning he found a young blond man staring at him intently with wrath filled eyes and a spear pointed towards his person.

"Oh? Finally wake up did we? Enjoyed your nap I hope?" He retorted sarcastically, completely ignoring the existence of the spear.

"Cut the crap asshole! What did you do to Myne?" Motoyasu asked angrily.

"I paralyzed her as punishment for slandering me and attempting to manipulate me. She lied through her teeth, this is what she gets." Ainz explained calmly, walking past the man to leave.

"Hey! Wait, I'm not done with you!"

Ainz stopped, turned and picked up the man, then brought him close just as he did the king before. "You seem to be under the impression that I am under your beck and call, I can assure you I am not… you are alive because I'm not sure if I need you yet. You can point at me- Poke me with your little stick all you want but if you don't have the strength to back it up it's only going to go the same as last time. Do not get in my way." He stated ominously as his eyes flashed red and dropped the man flat on his arse.

"I will- wha- you?

"Blasphemy!" The nun shouted in anger. "You can not simply refer to the holy spear as a mere little stick!"

Stopping to acknowledge the nun, Ainz turned his head and stated flatly. "I just did" then left, leaving the two to seethe in their rage behind.

"His holiness will have to be informed of this travesty!" the nun exclaimed and began to move quickly away from the still furious Spear Hero.

"Hold up!" he quickly exclaimed, getting the speeding nun's attention. She stopped in her tracks and returned to the spear hero. "Please forgive me Sir Motoyasu. I was simply overcome by the shield's lack of respect, what may I do for you?"

"The king sent me for some high quality holy water, princess Malty has been placed under a curse by the shield hero." he explained quietly, looking down at the floor and tightly gripping his spear.

"But that shouldn't be possible, no previous shield hero could do such a thing, are you sure it's a curse?" the nun asked curiously, a fisted hand cupping her chin in thought.

"The mage that serves the king said he doesn't know what it is, he said it doesn't resemble magic he's seen before so he doesn't know what else it could be."

"I see, this is very concerning…" the nun stated thoughtfully. "Please meet me in the main lobby, and I will be back shortly with your request." With that, the nun and spear hero went their separate ways.

Five minutes later the nun walked into the large lobby area, a diamond shaped white bottle carefully cradled in her arm. He idly wondered why it had taken so long but let the issue be.

"Here Sir Motoyasu, please accept this with God's grace, we pray this cures the princess' condition." She stated, handing him the bottle carefully then clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

"Thanks!" he said hurriedly, running out of the church and back up to the castle as quickly as he could, along the way he couldn't help but think back to what happened in the throne room.

**Flash Back **

Argh… he groaned groggily, stirring from his involuntary unconsciousness, the bump on his head reminding him of what had just happened. He quickly rose to his feet just as his other two counterparts regained their consciousness and ran to check on the girl who had been clutched safely in his arms moments earlier.

Her body was limp and unmoving… he increased his pace and quickly knelt to pick up the girl resting her back on his knees supporting her head and shoulders with his left arm; he could feel her heart beating rapidly through her ribcage where his arm rested. A sign that she was thankfully alive.

With a sigh of relief, he looked at her face and saw the resting panicked expression, her eyes wide in horror and her jaw slightly moving as she attempted to speak "He… he… he..." she tried to stutter out.

"It's alright, try not to speak." he stated warmly. Just as others were beginning to come to, Ren and Itsuki walked up behind him.

"She lied." Ren stated flatly, looking down at the girl.

"And how would you know that?!" growled the spear hero looking up at the dark haired teen. In a calm response Ren simply stated the facts.

"Where do I start?" he asked rhetorically "She said her clothes were torn off then he held her down but somehow got away… doesn't that seem a little suspect considering we just got our arses handed to us and the massive fist shaped hole in the door laying on the other side of the hallway?" Ren stated, pointing a thumbed hand over his shoulder

"He was drunk, remember, maybe he got distracted and lost sight of her, by then it could have been too late."

"Did you see how fast he moved, by the time she reached the door to the room he would have been standing in front of it." As Ren stated this Malty's fearful face twisted ever so slightly in anger.

"T- t that's enough, anymore talk of that... thing and you will suffer it's fate." Sputtered Aultcray. When he spoke he felt as if his lungs were on fire. He attempted to get up out of his cracked throne only to feel a pain so intense it almost made him blackout.

"What do you mean by 'that thing'?" Inquired Itsuki, a curious expression plastering his face.

"The Shield Her- no the Shield Devil, whatever he- it is, isn't human! I saw its red glowing eyes underneath its helmet and just look at what it and it's infernal magic did to my daughter." The king exclaimed painfully.

"Yeah he's right guys, have you ever seen him take off his armour completely? What about the fact that he hasn't eaten or slept once since he got here?"

"This doesn't add up. He took off his helmet, we saw his face, he looked as human as you or I do. Plus, how do you know that? Don't you remember the ring he showed us?" Asked Ren cynically.

"There is a key hole in his door that one of the maids used to look through earlier in the night, she told me he never took off his armour, just laid on the bed reading with it on all night." Said Motoyasu, choosing to ignore the question about the ring.

"That still doesn't change the fact that she lied, maybe he wouldn't have attacked us if she hadn't-

"I said, That's Enough!" The king roared painfully, attempting to get out of his chair once again but failed to, almost falling unconscious at the pain again; his now awake adviser silently voicing his worry, grabbing on to the king's arm.

"Are you alright?" asked itsuki.

"No… Do I look alright? I think that monster broke my back when he threw me. Someone, wake up that mage. I want to know what that devil did to my daughter."

**Flashback end **

When Motoyasu finally returned to the castle he made his way to the room he knew the mage and Malty to be located in, the glistening white bottle clutched carefully but tightly in his grip, with his spear attached to his back.

He rounded the corner and was met with two rows of soldiers flanking each side of the elongated hallway with a large window at the end that looked out and over the city. The guards stood at attention ready for anything and anyone.

They each gave the spear hero a nod as he walked past them to the door near the middle of the hall.

The guards In front of the door moved to the sides allowing the spear to enter. Once he was inside he briskly walked to his destination; Malty's bedroom.

Waiting within was a gaggle of maids who were tending to their mistresses every need, a worried looking father sat in a makeshift wheelchair with a brace that held his back together while it healed and finally a mage standing over the end of a frilly king sized bed trying to further examine its occupant.

"Has there been any change?" He asked caringly, walking up beside the mage.

"None." the mage says flatly. "Did you bring the item as requested?" the mage asked still trying to analyse the girl.

Nodding, Motoyasu Handed the item to the mage, who made his way around to the large bed to reach its still very awake and very angry resident; though she couldn't show it.

With a hopeful expression mounting on the faces of everyone in the room, some more so than others. With bated breath they watched as the holy liquid was slowly and attentively poured into the young woman's delicate mouth.

A golden glow surrounded the girl, then… nothing. The glow faded and sputtered into nothingness, as if there was nothing there to dispel. Tears began to form in the corners of the princesses eyes as the spear hero asked "Did it work?" looking around confused.

"No Sir hero, it did not." the mage grumbled then turned to the king sitting in his wheel bound chair, his hands covering his face in sadness and despair.

"My king, if i may, could I ask you to please repeat the incantation the Shield Devil used on your daughter."

"Extend boosted magic: paralyze." the king said gravely, looking at the mage like he was a moron. This was the third time he's asked.

"Wait a minute!" The spear exclaimed enraged, grabbing the mage by the hems of his gown. "You told me it was a curse so why didn't it work?"

"Ah? Lord Hero if you could let go of me I will explain…" the mage conveyed wryly resting his hand lightly on the hero's wrist. Relenting, Motoyasu let the man go and took a step back.

"I believed this to be a curse based purely on its effect but seeing now that the holy water did not work I believe this to be a spell and a very strong one."

"So what does that mean? Can you help her or not?"

"To answer your questions simply… no I can not. The simplest thing to do now would be to wait for this effect to end; "extend" must mean it has a time limit and "boosted" must therefore indicate thats its power was increased in some way, meaning this was not the base effect of this spell, it could last a few days or a few weeks, possibl-"

The blue sky outside turned dark as a massive pillar of flame shot up from outside the castle town wall, the heat wave crashed over the city walls, breaking just about every window in the castle town before it crashed into the castle itself with a somewhat weekend effect, only cracking the slightly thicker glass.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Grrrrr! He's making a damn show of power!" Altcray sneared in rage staring at the column of flame in the distance.

"By throwing a damn nuke at the city! Why would he-"

"Your majesty are you ok!?" A soldier asked with worry barging through the door.

"Yes I'm fine…" the King stated waving his hand as if waving away a fly. "Bring me a messenger. I have an urgent matter that needs to be addressed at once."

"Yes sir!" the soldier exclaimed, closing the door quickly and running off.

…

Ainz continued to walk...

Not even stopping to pull the balloon monsters off when they started to latch onto his armor, he simply crushed them in his hand and continued.

He only stopped when he reached a field. The same field he'd been grinding in the whole time he'd been on this stupid planet, he looked around trying to find his mark, when he did he looked at it and cast [Vermilion Nova]. The tree was vaporised even before the massive colon of superheated plasma shot out of the hill it sat on, destroying said hill and the ground around it, the heat from the spell was so intense that the guards standing on the wall had the hair on their chins singed off. The heat wave from the explosion continued to roll over the city beyond the wall.

They received the least of it, the earth and everything on it for 300 meters from the epicenter of the flame collom was set ablaze the earth inside the creator was turned to molten rock, the poor balloons stood no chance… hundreds maybe even thousands died without even registering what happened to them.

**LEVEL UP!(shield level)**

Then as if to mock his efforts, storm clouds began to grow and pour down rain like a torrential torrent, he wasn't really bothered by it at all, besides the fact it had stopped some fires from burning further.

After completing his "test" he sighed and made his way to the forest he could see in the distance, it was small, nothing more than a thicket of trees by comparison to the one that surrounded Carne; it would serve the purpose he needed it for.

Ainz went further into the forest, cast a small illusion on himself, one that made him look as he did now - he could still feel watching eyes on him like the girl from the castle - and switched to his main set of gear.

He continued his stroll through the shrubbery until he found a clearing. The one he found was decent for what he needed, if a little small but that issue would be shortly rectified, he noticed a small stream next to it, who knows if he would need it for something later.

Ainz observed the centre of the clearing, making sure this is where he wanted to put it and incanted [Create Fortress]. In the center of the cleaning the ground began to shake and crack like a spider's web and then in a matter of moments a massive 30 meter tall stone tower rose out of the earth causing a gust of wind that shook the forest around it.

Ainz turned his head briefly, sensing the small surprised gasp from the tree line behind him.

[Create fortress] Is a 10th tier spell that summons forth a mighty fortress in the form of a 30 meters tall tower out of thin air. In YGGDRASIL, anyone in the same party could open its doors with a touch. But it was discovered during his first trip to the dwarven kingdom that anyone, even if he considered them allies would need him to open the door for them or they would have to break it down which was almost impossible.

Upon reaching the interior he created a dark leather couch with [Create Greater item], sat down and leaned back comfortably, then opened up is inventory and took out a small assortment of items such as a quill, a scroll of paper and a [vile of infinite ink] plus other items he would be using to test with the shield later.

He quickly wrote down a message to Albedo and the other floor guardians then spawned a lvl1 skeleton to carry the message through the gate he would soon summon; doing so currently was not possible as his mana had yet to recover fully.

As he waited he started to feed the items in front of him to the shield, a red health potion from Yggdrasil which gave him the potion enhancement shield.

A used wand of [Raise dead] that did not give him the ability to raise people from the dead but only the ability to heal- ironic considering he was undead.

A random herb Enfira had once shown him while they were talking about alchemy, this unlocked the leaf shield that gave him the herb enhancement ability and a new mastery bonus system for the shield; after focusing on the little (i) a help screen appeared in his vision with more info about the aforementioned mastery system.

**When a shield is used for a while to achieve a certain level of proficiency, it will grant its wielder permanent bonuses. **

'_It seems I get to keep the bonuses from previous shields in the skill tree… hmm I wonder' _scrolling up to the Death Knight shield, he found that there was now a new bonus under its branch segment.

**Mastery level required: 300 - Defence +45**

He continued to stare at the new information wondering what the hell that ment. '_There's no further information on what the stat actually does… is it magic defence, physical defence or both and how much does that add to my own Yggdrasil stats.' _"Aaaah, this is confusing" he stated out loud resting his skull on one of his hands.

Deciding to Leave it for future Ainz to figure out, he got up and went to the center of the fifteen meter wide room and cast [Gate], once again feeling as if all his mana had disappeared. He idly wondered if this would get any easier as he leveled up, even though he now had 121500 mana points it still took all of it to summon a gate back to his world.

Ainz turned to his low level subordinate and held out his message "Go through this Gate and give this message to Shalltear Bloodfallen she should be on patrol." the Skeletal minion accepted its command and lightly jogged through the tear in space; message in hand.

As much as he wanted he couldn't risk opening a Gate inside the throne room and have it fail immediately. Albedo would have put Nazarick on full alert the moment she was informed of his… kidnaping, meaning Aureole Omega would be blocking any and all unauthorised teleportation magic, this is the best he could do at the moment.

Hopefully they would receive the message and set his plans into motion.

* * *

**Slavers tent, a few days later.**

Ainz walked through town, unimpeded by anyone. As he proceeded, his towering figure gained many confused, but mostly scared looks. His dark armor, and flowing, torn red cloak had definitely made an impression on the people.

"_Hmm, weird. But I shouldn't blame them…" _indeed, it was almost the same when he first walked through the streets of Re-Estize, the stares were too familiar.

After talking to one of the guards who acted with suspicion throughout their entire encounter, he had finally told Ainz that the city was under martial law to protect the people from him.

Apparently his "test" on the other day had caused a great panic; both in the populous of the city and the court nobles. He also asked about the church but the low level soldier knew nothing more and asked him to move along. It was evident, he was not welcomed wherever he turned.

After a short walk later he arrived at the tent his Hanzos had told him about, it was just as they described; massive, striped yellow and grey.

When he approached the entrance he saw a sign above its entrance in a language he couldn't understand "G_reat another language I'll have to learn…"_ he cursed inside, nonetheless, proceeding deeper.

As he made his way inside, passing all the empty cages that were stacked on top of one another, flanking both sides - creating something akin of a pseudo hallway that lead him to the center - the sounds of animals and monsters that permeated throughout the tent gave a sense of atmosphere that one would typically find in a zoo he only saw in documentaries.

Stopping, and looking around, suddenly all noises cut off and went quiet. It was evident, the instinct of animals were in play, they knew well what kind of dreadful being now walked in these halls. For Ainz of course, it was slightly confusing, nonetheless, he shrugged his shoulder and proceeded, ignoring the sudden change of atmosphere.

His way led through the stacks of cages and soon, the towering "warrior" reached the center. He wasn't surprised to find another much smaller tent within. "_It likely acts as something akin to a counter."_ He thought.

Inside the small tent he could hear some kind of mumbling. Maybe it was the owner? He could only guess.."Hello?" Ainz asked aloud, hoping to get the man's attention.

"Hmmm?"

A short fat well dressed man in a top hat appeared in the next moment, peeking through the canvas door. In the moment this round and small figure spotted him, an inhumanly wide grin appeared on his face. An odd expression, not a smile one may find reassuring or even close to friendly.

"Oh, a patron! What brings you to my humble business? What can I do for you today?" The small man asked, with his still teeth bearing a wide grin. Ainz felt his low level observation shield ping briefly but didn't react as he knew it was the man in front of him.

_'Customer?' _Ainz raised his inner brow, finding the attitude of this man strange. Nonetheless, it was a welcomed change, at least he was somewhat friendly. More importantly, open to business. Not a trait he met often since the king issued martial law.

"Oh and what exactly is it that you sell? Animals?" The Overlord asked curiously, tilting his head slightly.

In reply the man began to chuckle heartedly and spoke with amusement. "Did you not read the sign out front? I sell slaves, dear Sir! Of the highest quality you'll find around! I might add! Now what can I get you?"

Ainz paused for a few moments to let his emotional suppression calm him down if only slightly. "Hmmm…. I was recently informed of a level 75 beastman that is held captive in a cage here. I would like to appraise it."

"Oh! A fine choice! A fine choice! Right this way!" the man exclaimed trudging along to one of the many rows of cages, elegantly walking with his cane. "Say, by any chance are you the shield hero, Sir?" He asked, looking over his shoulder as they made their way.

"And if I was?" Ainz asked incredulously from behind.

"It doesn't really matter, just a bit of idle curiosity on my part. If, theoretically, you were the shield hero I would want to ask you why you would come here. You clearly don't need a slave if the power you displayed the other day is anything to go by." Not to mention why he can't read? But pointing out such obvious things was not the slaver's style, he kept this info for himself, hiding it under his perpetual smile.

"Hm, am I that obvious?" Ainz asked curiously, allowing himself a low chuckle.

"Oh, indeed!" The slaver exclaimed and stopped to look at Ainz with a big grinning smile, all the while leaning on his cane.

"After a while in the business you learn quickly to get a read on people, like your body language, you don't display anything you're just… flat, but your voice exudes with charisma and magnanimity. Normally customers who come here are self indulgent or cocky."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed! You are just like the rumors describe you. All, dark and mysterious. Not many like you have appeared recently."

Yes, he practically gave himself away the moment the slaver laid eyes on him, "Yet, what truly intrigues me is your identity…" he pointed his cane at him.

"Oh! And may I know why that is?" Ainz asked curiously, finding the stocky, but mysterious trader more and more amusing. Such people are dangerous, yet, they can be useful if handled properly.

"Let's just say, I couldn't read your level! Like you weren't even there! Poof!" he made an explosive motion with his gloved hands, making Ainz smile bitterly under his helmet.

"Oh? So that's what you were doing? Inspecting me?"

"Indeed, please forgive my curiosity. In my profession, one can't be too careful…"

"Hmm, that's true. I suppose you can call it a passive skill of mine, but for future reference please don't do that if you wish to continue living. Normally it would launch a spell with similar effects to the one from the other day directly to the observers location."

"Ooo, how unpleasant! I'm practically shakin in my boots! Hahaha. Now shall we move on. We got a beasty to see dont we?" He asked rhetorically as he began to make his way down the lane of cowering caged demihumans.

"_Well that wasn't expected… aren't people supposed to be a bit more hesitant when their lives are threatened?" _this little man was more and more confusing. If Ainz were being paranoid, he would say he was hiding something.

Though, in his kingdom slavery was abolished the moment it was founded, he wouldn't repraimed the slavekeeper. It was a different world and different setting. This man, like many others, just wanted to earn his bread.

"_Also, according to the laws of this country keeping slaves is not against the law."_ it was a disgusting and ineffective practice if you asked him.

But if he starts a one man Crusade against slavery now, and overthrows the ruling authority, that may lead to much more trouble later. Trouble he didn't need right now. With enough support, he might just take over everything. But without forces to monitor and enforce his will and rules, he was not sure it was a good idea. Either way, he will keep his opinions for himself for a time being. It would just ruin this business opportunity anyway.

"No trader likes complaining customers…" at least, that is what his manager always said. "_Still, this guy creeps me out! Is he even right in his head?"_ Most would simply bow down and obey him, he knew well how menacing his armor looked, as well his presence was just dark and depressing - being an undead was both a blessing and a curse.

As he pondered on this, the podgy man ahead of him stopped in front of a cage covered by a large red tarp.

"Well here it is my level 75 beastman! He's my pride and joy! I hope you'll be satisfied with him!" the slaver stated excitedly as he flipped the weighty tarp over the cage to reveal a cowering wolfman in the furthest corner of the cage. The creature growled at Ainz, or at least attempting to through the rattled whimpering sound that leaked from its snout.

"Does it normally do that?" Asked Ainz looking down at the pathetic creature, the flames in his socket dimming disappointed.

"Hmm, it is strange." caressed his chin the trader. "No, in fact it's normally pretty agressive, it should be attempting to scratch my eyes out… there's something about you that's scaring the piss out of it, literally." the slaver stated, pointing at the growing amount of liquid pooling on the cage's floor. "Now that I notice it, all my wares acted the same way since you entered my establishment…'' indeed, it was evident. Even as an undead, Ainz started to feel the nauseating stench of urine.

Ignoring the little man's statement, Ainz' mind began to tick away in thought. _"Does it know that I'm undead?" _pondering on it for a moment, Ainz came to a conclusion_. "Ah! I remember now! Blue Planet once told me about… animals - before most of them died out - apparently had the ability to sense when danger or disaster was coming, maybe it's something like that? Whatever, I'll do what I came here for, then I can leave."_ Ainz thought before raising his hand and casting [All Appraisal Enemy]

All the information there was to know about the creature flooded into his mind. Its affiliation and owner, it's stats, it's current level, how old it was and it's _two_ race classes.

_"So it is level 75 according to the standards of this world. Still it's stats barely reach that of a level 30 and those classes... what's going on here? This doesn't make any sense!."_

"Judging by your silence I can assume you found out something surprising? May I ask what it could be."

"A moment please." The Overlord exclaimed briefly then under the hiding of his cloak, reached into his inventory and pulled out two gold coins.

One from Yggdrasil with intracellularly designed depictions of an angel and a demon on the heads and tails sides respectively. The other coin was from his world and Kingdom, one side adorned with his skeletal face, the other with the symbol of his kingdom and guild. Both were immaculate and shined brightly in the candlelight that was nearby.

Ainz looked down at the man who stared back with a grin that hid nothing of his greed. "Could you tell me if I can use these as currency?" questioned Ainz, offering the coins to the man for inspection.

"Oh absolutely! Pass 'em here, let me take a look." The man stated energetically looking at the coins, a childish sheen of excitement stemming through his glasses.

{On my authority as the Great Slave Merchant Beloukas I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and appraise my target to reveal its true nature, All ZveitAppraisal} after his incantation both coins he now held within his hand glowed a faint blue and the slave merchant began to cackle maddly.

"Do you know what you've just given me? These should be locked up in a safe and worshiped, this one." - he held up the Yggdrasil coin - "is composed of pure magic yet it still has weight! And this one" - he held up the SK coin. "Is one hundred percent pure gold even with magic and modern forging techniques this should be impossible and yet here it is! Just where the hell did you come from mister?"

"Ehh?" "_I already knew both of those things but he didn't tell me what they're worth." _"So what would you say each of them are worth in this country's currency?"

"Well normally the detail and design on both of these would make them worth double what a typical gold coin is worth but taking into account the information I just learned... " he smiled again. "Let me keep these and I'll give you any three things in my emporium here and a permanent discount on any services you may require of me!"

"Hmm… and what if I don't want slaves? What if I need "other kinds of wares"? Do you offer anything else aside from these creatures?"

"Hmm! It wounds me greatly that you think my wares only consist of living ones. I said 'you could take any three things, meaning, any items that take your fancy. Even information!" the spectacles of the man flashed dangerously in the next moment. "I'm also an information broker and an acquirer of rare and mystical goods, name it and I can get it!"

"I see, very well. Then, I want to inspect your other wares too before I decide…"

"Very well then, follow me then, good Sir!" It took a while, but the man guided him through his tent, showing him both his living, and lifeless wares. Most were not interesting to Ainz, yet, as he walked through the tent, he recognized something.

"Well, that's it! Anything earn your fancy?" asked the man, bearing the same wide grin.

"Hmm, maybe, but may I ask? Why didn't you show me that place?" he pointed towards the darkest section of this labyrinth built from cages.

"Oh! Those are my lowest grades of living wares, you wouldn't be interested in them."

"Still, I digress… please show them for me,"

"As you wish…" the pudgy man adjusted his hat, leading Ainz to the dark section.

What the Sorcerer King saw was a tragic sight. Demi humans in a miserable state! Blind, deformed, or with broken limbs. Just as the slave trader said, they were nothing noteworthy, Most likely worth notch.

"_Even their look… like a dead fish…" _most were too broken to react, or even raise their head. The light of life missing from their eyes.

"Just as I said, Sir. These are my lowest grade wares. They wouldn't interest you."

"Hmm, maybe you are right…" Albeit, Ainz found the scene disgusting, he was not the hero in black. If he starts to trash around and free everyone he may lose an important source of information.

"_Enslaving him, breaking his mind would also lower his _effectiveness _to acquire goods or information…"_

This man was right, the free information he shared with him indeed made clearer how this world works. This, despite the dirty nature of his business, made him worth keeping around.

"_Who knew this is a matriarchal country, and that king was only holding power while his wife was away…" _it was honestly amusing thinking how uppity that man acted, when in truth his role was only like a secretary, keeping things clean while the manager was away.

Keh~ Keh~ Keh~

"_What was that?" _Ainz thought, turning around and walking towards what sounded like the coughing of a child a few cages down. After reaching the cage he raised the green tarp that was covering it. What came before him could only be described as disgusting and above all, infuriating!

The demihuman girl in front of him was unlike the others that surrounded her, in the sense that she hadn't reacted to his presence - at all. Her expression was utterly broken! She made him remember the street orphans he often saw while going to work back when he was human. A tragic sight, most wouldn't live longer than a year in the streets, his Earth's atmosphere was that toxic!

Back then, he simply turned his head away, trying not to think about it. He barely could fend for himself. He had neither the power nor money to help them. But now, he just can't!

"What. is. this…?" he asked, looking at the man, his red soulfire eyes flared up to a point that they were even able to be seen through the dark slit of his helm.

Beloukas began to sweat heavily, feeling the killing intent wafting off of Ainz as he stared back into the glowing red eyes. "S- she's a racoon girl. Unfortunately she's a bit… sick" He chuckled nervously.

"I can see that… why? Is it not in your own best interest to take care of your '_merchandise'. _Humans are disgusting..." he muttered under his breath, barely audible as his suppressor finally calmed him down enough to think properly.

"W- well you see this one has been a bit of a problem child, her previous owners say she screams in her sleep and that her sickness would cost too much to cure, she is; excuse me for being so blunt, but she is an acceptable loss."

"I see… " he said in disappointment. "_It seems that no matter which world I'm in, human nature is constant."_ thought Ainz as he looked back to the girl, the words of one of his now long distant friends popping into his mind.

"_**Saving someone in need is always the right thing to do!" **_

He sighed lightly as the sense of nostalgia flowed through his body and left as quickly as it came. "_Maybe I can use her as a control to see how leveling works in this world." _he thought, trying to justify the words of his friend.

Kneeling before her cage, she slightly raised her head, the light of life long gone barely visible, yet were still there. So faint, it was almost nonexistent.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked in as light a tone as he could make. The girl didn't react, only her tears started to pour from her eyes.

Ainz was slightly taken aback, even with his five decades of ruling a country he felt practically useless when faced with emotional needs of a child in a state such as the one before him. "_I suppose the best thing to do would be to start with the basics."_

"May I know your name, child? He asked lightly.

No response

"If you want to leave this place I need to know what to call you, calling you child or girl could get tiresome after a while." he joked in a sarcastic tone, trying to lift the dull atmosphere up slightly.

Beloukas who was standing behind him groaned internally at the horrible jest. All the while keeping his outward appearance the same 'friendly' one he always held.

No response

"_I see, so that didn't work either… perhaps another approach."_

"Do you want to become strong?" he asked in a more noble voice and continued. "Because I can give you strength on a level you have not known before, strength to not only protect yourself but those you care for." he said holding out one of his hands. "_Ah, that was a bit cliche."_

No response

"Very well." he said flatly and got up to walk away. As he was about to take a step he heard a voice so faint he would have missed it if it weren't for his super human hearing.

"R- ra- raphtalia…."she said meekly but he could see by her clenched fists that she had determination if only a little and considering the effort it took to overcome whatever her and the rest of the demihumans were feeling in his presence, he was fairly impressed.

He turned and knelt back down in front of the cage. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Raphtalia. My name is Suzuki Satoru." he stated softly, then got up and turned to the small man. "I will be taking her with me, please unlock the cage."

"Are you sure? There are much better options available."

"Yes."

"As you wish Sir... will you also be requiring a slave crest as well?"

"No, but explain to me what this slave crest does, I assume it's a form of control magic?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking, it puts them under the effects of a curse, a strong seal based curse, it makes them completely at the mercy of their owners wims, refusal to carry out those orders repeatedly will eventually result in their death."

"That will not be needed." he said simply.

"Very well." Beloukas replied with a hint of disappointment then bent down to unlock the cage. "Come on, out you come." the slaver said as he swung the door open.

The girl sat inside the cage for a minute before she pushed off its floor with her hands and slowly walked out of the cage shaking lightly as she went. She eventually stood before Ainz staring up at him with eyes that no longer looked dead but still had hints of abject fear lying underneath.

"Ready to go?" Ainz asked looking down at her small form.

"Mhm." She nodded meekly in reply.

"And is there anything else I can get for you today Sir?" The slaver asked with his perpetual smile strewn across his face and his hands resting on the ball of his cane.

"Not at the moment… but I may be coming back later with a list of things and information I wish to acquire."

"Very good Sir, I await your continued patronage." the slaver exclaimed as they both made their way outside. He looked down at the coins in his hand and smiled with greed. "_A most profitable day."_ He thought and turned around to walk back to his small tent.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry im taking so long guys but this chapter is big im sitting on 11thousand words atm and still don't have some parts done. But I wanted to give you something that sets up some events in the very near future. I want to get the full chapter out by the 31st but i don't think that may happen so sorry about that.**

**Another reason as to why it took so long is that I've been working on something BIG, if you have been to the Overlord sub Reddit you likely already know what it is, if you don't here : bit DOT ly SLASH 2Tlt739**

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**.

**The things your about to read are the rawest version of the parts I've written so keep that in mind. **

* * *

**Mordicus18**

Thanks. I don't intend on abandoning it and probably won't unless I get impossibly stuck on something… writers block can be a bitch sometimes. You cannot comprehend how many times I watched ep1 and 2 trying to get everyone's personality right.

**Dan05**

Thanks I'm glad you think so! As to the gate part of your review, Ainz' gate did connect, the way in which it failed was that he could not go through it, the shield simply blocked him from leaving he gets a warning as soon as he gets knocked out of it but what he can do is send and bring things or people to him such as _world item or npcs…_

**Chaosconetic**

Yes now that Ainz has the war mage class he can now wear heavy armor and cast spells more - than he could- but he can also chose to use perfect warrior to become a half assed lvl 100 warrior with all the stats that come with it so he can adapt to any given situation in which he's placed I plan on phasing out the need for the spell later.

**L**

Yeah funny thing about the high grade holy water… I checked with multiple sources i.e the SH Reddit, the wiki and a few people who have read the LN's in discord.

Holy water only affects curses and not status affects and yes they are different, Overlord has curses too (e.g Leinas Rockbruise' condition). I do my research before writing something.

I like my world building and the perspective of other characters - it's why I like Overlord so much... and shield hero does that too but only minimally, I understand that's because of how the story itself is told but I'd like a little more information with my information if you catch my drift XD. like i said above i had to go through multiple sources to get the information and at best most of it is speculation.

I do plan on taking the story in a different direction sometime after the first wave and as a result some character ach's could happen much sooner or much later it depends on a multitude of probabilities ;)

* * *

**Ovelord and the shield**

**Nazarick**

"Where did you go Lord Ainz?" Shalltear asked to no one as she sat atop the entrance stairs of the Great Tomb.

It had been two weeks since her Lord and Master had disappeared and besides the brief opening of a very powerful [Gate] - they had yet to receive any information about where their lord was or when he would come back, they knew he was in another world; a conclusion that Demiurge had come to after studying the book that had taken their master.

Nonetheless it gave them hope that their lord would come back or he was trying to. Nazarick had gone into a full panic - Albedo and Shalltear having some of the worst reactions - simply by the mere thought that they had been abandoned, yet the gate let them know that their lord was attempting to come back to them.

That leads to Shalltear's current predicament, she was stuck on patrol, Nazarick had been placed on full alert so she and the rest of the Guardians had been restricted to their floors and without a good reason they were unable to leave until the guardian overseer herself deemed it necessary.

Shalltear wanted to do more, she wanted to go to her master and serve him in _whatever_ way he may require of her.

Do not be mistaken, serving as one of Nazaricks guardians was an honoured privilege and not a single one of them would give it up even if they were ordered to do so by their creators, but…

"This is so boring!" she complained out loud…only to then hear something that shouldn't have been there.

Normally the graveyard was quiet, well, as quiet as it could be with the sound of moaning undead in the distance - what she heard was not that, and something she found very curious, it was the constant sound of boned feet making quick successive contact with the paved cobblestone path underneath. The undead that populated the graveyard would not behave in such a way unless there was something or someone that should not be there in which case they were attacking or... they were under orders of some form to move quickly.

Shalltear rose to her feet and daintily made her way down the stairs with a curious expression and holding her gown up slightly as she went - so as not to step on it.

Once she reached the bottom she didn't have to wait long for the single low level unarmored skeleton to make contact with her. It stood in front of her analysing her slightly then handed her a scrap of folded paper. She stared at the undead in befuddlement for a moment before it collapsed into a heap of bones which further disintegrated into a cloud of dark ash.

She looked at the folded note in her hands and began to read.

"Wait, this is Lord Ainz' handwriting!" she exclaimed, after just the first few words she almost began to hop in joy before she realised she had yet to teleport to the 10th floor.

_"Surely this would count as a good excuse." _She thought as her ring, like the one every Supreme Being wore before them shone a bright red and she disappeared, leaving the graveyard.

…

On the tenth floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick Albedo sat at her desk working diligently - it was the only thing she could do to distract herself from the gaping hole in her heart - she was currently going over reports from a recent effort on the new continent.

The kingdoms and City states in that region were rather weak, their armies nothing to the might of the Sorcerers Kingdom but they were not the reason for their most recent defeat.

Unlike the one Nazarick sat on where the _True_ Dragon Lords were hesitant to do much in the way of intervention, the ones on the new continent had been rather… difficult to deal with. They had so far wiped out every force that was sent there, armies consisting of hundreds of thousands of undead and volunteer demi-human/human militia - under the command of cocytus - stood no chance against their breath weapons and wild magic.

"_Greater measures will need to be taken..."_ she thought as a maid entered through the large dark wood door.

"What is it? Can't you see that I'm working; I believe I asked not to be disturbed?" She sneered at the intrusion.

"I'm so very sorry Lady Albedo but Mistress Shalltear says it's urgent." the maid exclaimed with urgency.

"_What could possibly be that important, doesn't she know that I'm busy?"_ "Very well send her in." She stated, looking back down at the document. The maid bowed deeply and left through the door, a moment later Shalltear entered, closing the door behind her and walked towards the Overseers desk.

"What do you want lamprey?" Albedo questioned in spite.

She didn't expect what happened next; it went against every interaction she had had with the vampire - there was no amusing anger filled expressions, no glowing red eyes and most of all... no retort - she simply smiled.

"I am in too much of a good mood to be bothered by your childish insults today you big mouthed gorilla." she replied in jest.

Albedo released an audible "Tch" at the jab and glared at the Guardian. "What do you want?" she growled.

"Lord Ainz has orders for us." she said, coily flapping the piece of paper back and forth lightly.

Before Shalltear's eyes Albedo seemed to move faster than she could follow, that shouldn't have been possible and yet there she was breathing heavily staring at the note with eyes of madness right behind her.

Shalltear began to laugh mischievously at the Guardian Overseers reaction, it was more than what she'd hoped for.

"So? Are you just going to stay there and stare at it or are you going to read it?" She asked with amusement.

Albedo looked up with contempt then quickly began to read the note, when she reached the part after his apology to her and Nazarick she began to shake visibly and growl with a dark purple aura surrounding her.

"What?" Shalltear asked in confusion.

"Did you not read the note?" Albedo asked in a calm tone that betrayed the wrathful aura that surrounded her, it was such that the Eight edge assassin's began to cringe in fear as the space around her began to bend inward and shake the room.

"They bound Lord Ainz to a world item and told him to save their world from something called waves." Albedo said with confusion and palpable amounts of spite.

"Wait, what, how!? Lord Ainz is a Supreme being, how could they bind him?!" Shalltear asked with hints of worry in her angered tone.

"I don't know… he hasn't said." She remarked in frustration and continued to read the note, her eyes moved with each line and with each line her aura grew to shake more of Nazarick, soon the whole of the tomb could feel her anger.

Suddenly her aura died down and she seemed to stand still as if in shock for a few seconds and brought two of her fingers up to the underside of her horns where her temples would be.

"Yes." she answered.

"..."

"..."

"No, I'm fine, Shalltear brought me a message from our Master; I was reacting to its contents, I apologise."

"..."

"..."

"Yes, gather the Guardians, Pleiades, Aureole Omega and Nigredo to the throne room in thirty minutes."

"..."

"..."

"Yes, he is his personal creation after all, but it may be better if I retrieve him, his reaction was worse than mine to our master's disappearance."

"..."

"..."

"Very well, see you soon Demiurge." Albedo finished and began to walk back towards her desk to gather the few things she needed..

"What should I do?" Shalltear asked in response to the one-sided conversation.

Albedo turned quickly and stated. "Go make sure the homunculus maids are okay and return to the throne room within thirty minutes, I'm sure even you are capable of that."

"Hmph! Fine…" the vampire grumbled

"Good." Albedo grinned and with a bright red ray of light, she disappeared.

…

The treasury of Nazarick was always a sight to behold, with mountains of gold coins that if you could count them all in a reasonable amount of time they would number in the hundreds of billions but those were not the most valuable of things contained within this awesome place; far from it.

No, for Pandora's actor the most valuable of these items were the golem's that aligned either side of him. There were forty one of these golem's each depicting the appearance of a Supreme being, items and all.

He cared more for one over all others, the one that was the absolute final defence before the grand vault that contained Nazarick' World Items, the one he has visited every day since his disappearance, the one, depicting his Creator and Father.

It should be equipped with treasures most mortals couldn't comprehend but reality is often disappointing.

The golem was nude…

It wore nothing but the majestic skeleton of his father, yet he couldn't help but stare at it longingly as if willing it to be the true one but he knew that it wasn't possible, his real creator was in a world he couldn't reach.

He did try, he took every form, of every supreme being trying to find one that could open a gate to the other world and no matter what he tried he could not do it.

The only reason he could even attempt such a thing was because the book - the catalyst - had revealed the location of its origin after Demiurge had cast appraisal magic on it, once that fact was known he had also done the same in an attempt to reach him. But opening a [Gate] to that world failed - everyone who could cast the gate spell had tried - for what reason he could not exactly know, but a theory was suggested by Albedo that they simply did not have the strength to do so.

For Pandora it was simply a result of the way in which he was created; when he took on the appearance of Supreme Being he was only able to achieve 80% of their operational strength.

But that didn't explain the cost of opening the gate to begin with, everyone who tried had found that all their MP had been taken and nothing would happen as a result, which left them confused as it flew in the face of how the spell normally worked.

"He's trying to come back to us." the solome voice of the Guardian Overseer said from behind him.

"I know…" he replied, head down cast.

"We've received a message from him." To this, Pandora's head shot up in surprise and questioned the Overseer "What does it say?" By the time he asked those words the note was already in front of his face.

"Thank you." he said, accepting the note carefully - so as not to damage it in any way - and started to read.

Normally Pandora was one to show exaggerated emotions either for excitement or sadness appropriate for a stage actor, but this time the words he uttered were delivered in a cold rage: "Diese gottverdammten Hurensöhne!" as he read the note he then continued on a tirade of what Albedo could assume as numerous insults. "Diese niederen Würmer wagen es, so etwas zu tun! Ich werde sie mit ihren Eingeweiden erwürgen und ihnen das Knochenmark aussaugen! Dann werde ich sie wiederbeleben um sie noch einmal, noch schmerzhafter zu erledigen!"

Albedo, even after half a century could still not fully understand what he was saying, but, judging from the few words she could understand and his tone, he was having the same reaction she had minutes ago.

She waited patiently and quietly for Pandora to calm down - she understood how he felt; all of Nazarick would probably feel the same - and returned to the throne room.

…

Ten minutes after the Guardian Overseer and treasury guardian arrived, the final member of this meeting came through the large doors at the end of the grand throne room.

Every member inside turned to see who it was as they thought no one else would be coming. For the guardians - the ones that could show emotion - they looked at this person with peculiar and perplexed expressions, they had only heard of this person in reports and never met physically.

The pleiades battle maids on the other hand looked at the girl with sisterly affection, it had been fifty years since they arrived in this world and not once have they seen their baby sister, they wanted to go and greet her personally; though business was first.

"We thank you for coming on such short notice, Aureole Omega." Albedo said, giving the young human girl a nod.

She looked like a young Japanese girl, around fourteen or fifteen with short black hair and a piece of black fabric that wrapped around her head and covered her eyes. She wore a traditional Japanese white kimono with patches of diamond shaped red fabric that started at the shoulders and ran down the length of her arms and hung loosely over her hand. Additionally she had a pair of loose fitting hakama - long read trouser pants that skated just above the floor covering the shinto sandals she used as footwear.

The perfect representation of a shrine maiden.

Normally humans were not allowed within Nazarick as the guild Ainz Ooal Gown was a heteromorphic exclusive guild, the only exceptions to that rule being Tsuare Ninya and Aureole Omega, both immortal humans; the former from the new world the latter a creation of one of the 41 - there was a second from the new world but she was no longer human and was more a demon to begin with.

That said Aureole Omega had one position that differed from all others in Nazarick and arguably the most important person besides Ainz himself, she is the Area Guardian of the Cherry blossom sanctuary the place where the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown rests, the Administrator of Nazarick's teleportation network and leader of the Pleiades 7 stars battle maids, without her Nazarick operational strength would be hindered considerably, to the point that it would likely scese to function entirely.

"I am at your service Lady Albedo" she said with a light childlike voice while bowing elegantly.

Albedo acknowledged her with a nod and began to speak.

* * *

**Melromarch: Castle town**

Ainz looked down at the girl beside him and idly wondered what she was thinking; more precisely what she thought of him as it had been a few minutes since they left the slavers tent and she had yet to say anything to him.

"_I suppose I should get her some equipment, I can't just leave her in those rags." _he thought, looking at the dessicated thing that she wore as clothes. Once she leveled up - if she chose to stay with him that is, she's free to do as she pleased - he could give her one of the many Relic or Legendary class armors in his inventory but right now he had nothing that she could wear at her current level.

Sighing, he made a decision, acquiring any armor from Nazarick would be a hassle so he would have to go to the next best source. "This way." he stated as he turned down the next alley.

The girl replied with a timid "Yes sir..." and followed him through the dark and damp alley to the main street on the other side.

After walking what felt like the length of the city the duo finally arrived at their destination. Making their way inside Ainz was once again met with the smell of steel and the sight of weapons stacked on top of one another.

Ainz made his way to the counter - the small racoon girl following not far behind him - while a familiar man behind the counter was staring down at something in frustration, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah its you… just the man I wanted to see, you know that metal you gave me." he gestured toward the silver grey ingots sitting on the bench. "I can't seem to get em' to melt, I've gotten 'em hot but I can't seem to get it to a malleable state. Got any pointers you can give me?"

Ainz was surprised with the man's attitude, he was fully expecting to be told off, yet the man had reacted in the complete opposite. Ainz briefly thought of bringing up the issue but decided against it in case he ruined another starting business relation.

Why the man had seemingly ignored or forgotten the accusations that Ainz had against him; he couldn't begin to understand...

"I have money on this, why would I assist you?"

"Arrrh, common don't be like that. Can't you at least give me a small hint, just a tiny one?" the blacksmith asked with a small distance between his thumb and index finger.

"I have given you enough hints already, some of them right in front of you." Ainz gestured toward the metal on the counter.

"Well… I guess that's as much as I could expect." The blacksmith stated, rubbing the back of his head and looking down. "So, what's with the kid?" he asked, looking over the counter at the child who looked exceedingly nervous with her ears and face down fidgeting with her arms against her chest.

"She's my… apprentice. I've come to acquire some light armor and a weapon for her, I have a budget of 230 silver, I'll leave it up to you." the Overlord stated respectively and dropped a coin purse on the counter. After doing the math before he entered the shop he came to the conclusion that this venture would leave him with 50 silver for other expenses like food and rooms, both being sporadic factors for the girl if that; food, he could cover with a [Ring of Sustenance] and accommodation - he could simply make his own.

"Well whoever she is, it doesn't matter - none of my business - think I've got just the thing though, give me a minute." he exclaimed and walked into the back through the door behind the counter.

"_Ehh, I hope he doesn't think I'm some kind of pervert now?"_

"Um, Sir?" A shy voice said from below.

"Yes?" he returned looking down.

"Why are you spending so much on me?" Raphtalia asked Ainz in a way he found rather familiar, like the way Mare would react when he was nervous - she put her two index fingers together at the tip and started tapping them lightly together while her head was faced down shyly.

He chuckled lightly and answered her question with another question. "Why wouldn't I? I promised you strength did I not? So why would I leave you unable to protect yourself while you gained that strength?" _"Plus I don't need that much to live comfortably..."_ He added in thought.

"Oh..." she replied, still looking down. The ears on her head twitched slightly as the blacksmith came back, a leather armor dress and matching shoes tucked under his arm and a flat wooden box-case held in his hands.

"Hear kid, go try this on." He said placing the box on the counter and handing the dress to the girl.

After a few moments she opened the curtain to the change room and stepped out timidly with a slight flush on her face likely because the dress didn't quite fit.

"Um…" Ainz hummed, not quite knowing what to say. Then as if sensing his reservations the blacksmith explained.

"Don't worry, she'll grow into it; it was a custom order from a noble's daughter a few years back but she never picked it up so it's just been sitting in the back room gathering dust ever since, so I figured she might be able to use it."

"Grow into it? That could take years..." Ainz replied with mild discomfort.

"Oh? So you don't know about demi-humans then, that's understandable since you're from another world and all that… demi-humans have the ability to grow as they level up - the more levels they gain the more they grow - it's why most humans feel they're unnatural." he explained shrugging his shoulders.

"I see… that's very interesting..." "_If that's the case why hasn't anyone exploited that fact? Mass producing an effective military force would be an easy task and given enough time you could theoretically have an infinite supply of troops should no event that results in a large population decrease happen."_

"Ahhh, hey you in there bud?" The blacksmith inquired, waving a hand in front of his helmet.

"My apologies, I seem to have been distracted, what did you need?"

"It's okay I was just askin' you if you like the weapons?" He gestured to the now open wooden case.

Inside, fastened to the wooden case by leather straps were three weapons, a longsword, a short sword and a dagger, all of matching design with a red leather strap for there grip, a bronze gold pommel in the shape of a wolf's head and a crossguard that looked like interwoven logs.

All three were of exquisite design but the looks of a weapon could only go so far and Ainz understood that fact so he cast an appraisal spell on them to confirm his thoughts, true to his thoughts they were all items of the high rarity - the highest level items he's seen in this world.

In Yggdrasil items of this class were typically able to be equipped by players of level 35 to 45 but the items before him seemed to go against that rule, they did not have a level requirement… perhaps that was the effect of the; to simply put it, _weird_ enchantment that was on the weapon or maybe it was something in the forging of the weapons themselves.

"It's some of my best work."

"I suppose it is, but why give it to her? Asked Ainz, looking at the blacksmith with curiosity and hints of paranoia.

"They're part of the same order for the dress, the girl who ordered it couldn't make up her mind on what weapon she wanted to wield so I suggested I make her three different kinds of blades.

Of course she paid for them, but, like I said before with the dress, she never came back for them so they've bin' gathering dust ever since - may as well putem to good use." The blacksmith smiled.

Nodding at the explanation, Ainz picked up the longsword with the intent to lightly swing it and suddenly found an annoying alarm going off in his head and a notification popping up in his vision.

**Waning! item rejection system offline…** **Please remove item: !&%^#$* to reactivate this system.**

**Notice: Compensating…. Total Defence is reduced by 75 % and Exp gain will be reduced by 99.99% while wielding any other item type than shields.**

**Attention! unknown error has occurred!**

**Notice: CoMPeNsatInG…**

**Attention! UNknOwN ErRor hAS ocCurRrRrrrRedD!**

**nOtiCe: CoMpEnUnKNowHAsEroUredRroriNggggg!**

**!NOitnEtTa! ErRrRRrR:RRrrRrrRrrRr…**

**Warning! Multiple unknown errors have occurred, attempting to resolve.**

**Attention! Impossible action, unknown Item: !&%^#$* is fused to the wielder's body. Physical removal of item is needed.**

"_This again?" _Ainz sighed and continued to stare at the stream of increasingly annoying notifications. "_It only makes sense - as amusing as it is - in Yggdrasil, a player couldn't equip more than one World item, if you could they would probably attempt to reject each other… or at least work against each other. But If that's the case why didn't the notification show up when I gave the sword to that… girl." _

"So what do you think? Balanced right?" The blacksmith asked with enthusiasm. Completely oblivious to the battle of epic proportions going on in front of him.

"Indeed." Ainz replied flatly, placing the item back in its case and moved to pick up the dagger from the slot below it's sibling short sword _"I wonder."_ He thought, and gently handed it to the small girl.

_"No notice... so it only reacts if I intend to use the item."_

"Um, Sir? What do you want me to do now?" the girl asked, looking back and forth between Ainz and the dagger with confusion.

"Equip it to the belt of your dress and draw it from the sheath." Ainz instructed and cast [Greater Teleportation] leaving the remaining two occupants of the shop in a state of brief disbelief before he returned moments later through use of the same spell, orange balloon in hand.

Raphtalia stared at the ball with apprehension, when an odd thing appeared in her field of view, it was large and light grey in the shape of a transparent square with detailed gold edges; almost like rope, inside the box was the text:

**You have received an invitation to Suzuki Satoru's/ Momonga's party! Do you wish to join? **

**Note: You may leave at any time.**

**Yes! No! **

"Erm, Sir? What is this?" the girl inquired looking up at the overlord with the same confused look.

"It is exactly what it says it is, simply focus on the option you wish to choose. It's your decision to accept it or not, not mine, yours." Her hesitation lasted a few moments before she made her choice and Ainz found a new icon - in the shape of a head with rounded ears on top - appearing in his HUD below his own resource gauge.

With Raphtalia joining his party came a new information readout for her.

**Raphtalia**

Level: 1

Exp (00 / 20)

HP: 56

MP: 25

Stam: 12

**Magic affinity**

Dark / light

**Spells**

none

**Equipment **

Sturdy noble dress

sharp noble dagger

"_Heh. Her stats are worse than a lvl 1 player. It will be interesting to see how she develops."_

"Good now I want you to kill this." Instructed Ainz, thrusting the orange balloon out with a single hand.

What? No…" the girl exclaimed timidly, taking a step back and pulling the dagger back.

"Ohh? What happened to the girl who had resolve and determination to get out of that cage, did I perhaps leave her behind in that tent?"

"N-no." She replied sheepishly..

"So show me then." the Overlord instructed once more shaking the growling balloon for emphasis.

Raphtalia tightened the grip on her dagger and began to coil her legs back slightly, then, with one big push she pounced towards the balloon with a courageous battle cry and drove her knife deep into the balloon, popping it in one go and making contact with Ainz armoured hand.

"Well done." stated Ainz, congratulating the girl by lightly rubbing the top of the girls head with his colossal hand.

"So I'm assuming you'll take them then?" Inquired the blacksmith.

"Yes, these will be good. _'For now.' _thank you blacksmith." Ainz stated with a nod of the head and after placing the box of swords in his inventory, began to walk towards the door; girl in tow.

"It's Erhard."

"I'm sorry?" The Overlord asked, stopping mid step and turning back around.

"My name is Erhard."

"I see, you have my thanks Erhard." Ainz replied and continued outside.

…

After walking down the quiet street for a bit, the two new companions found themselves at the gate closest to the forest with a long line of people stretching sixty meters in front of them.

"This is ridiculous!" Ainz heard one man say at the very back.

"Yeah if it wasn't for that stupid shield hero I'd be halfway to Lute by now!"

"Agreed, this lock down is stupid, why even stop us from leaving from the south gate. So what if he lives in the forest, the main road doesn't go anywhere near it."

"It's for our own protection! Don't you remember what he did the other day, that dreadful spell broke every window in the city and a lot of people got hurt."

"Yeah my wife was near the kitchen window when it happened, now her face is scarred for life!"

"Heh! sucks for you guys my business is booming because of him and my life is the better for it. I just got a big order from the castle to replace all the windows on the south side; was just on my way to get all the materials for it, I don't mind waiting just more orders for me when I get back!"

"Arhg, so are you one of those asshole blacksmiths that charge ridiculous prices to replace people's windows, why can't you just charge the normal price? why make a priority fee that only nobles can afford?"

"Man… I feel really sorry about that haha, it's not like I'm a trader or anything and I'm sure you know the creed we live by right. 'Make as much money as you can wherever, whenever you can'."

"Why you!"

It wasn't long before a fight broke out between the civilians and the blacksmith trader and his guardsmen. Ainz of course had stood by and watched as his and the girls presence went unnoticed.

"What's happening sir?" the girl asked as the crowd around the brall continued to grow.

"Nothing that concerns us." Ainz replied flatly and started to move away from the group. A few minutes later the two found their way to a small aly and stopped.

The overlord turned around while looking down at the girl. "Do you know what magic is?" he asked.

"Yes sir." she answered but gave no more information on what she knew.

"Good." Ainz remarked flatly and cast [Gate]. Raphtalia looked at the two and a half meter tall dark, swirling, tear in reality with apprehension backing away from it slightly.

"Follow me through, it's a teleportation spell that leads to the forest outside the castle wall, it will save us from having to go through the checkpoint we encountered before."

"Yes sir..." she replied with trepidation as the '_Thing'_ in dark armor went through the portal without waiting for her. '_Should I follow him through, I don't know what he is, I could just leave… but he's done so much for me... but he's so scary-' _thoughts of conflicting nature filtered through for some minutes straight before she made her decision, a decision that she could not know would change both her life and the life of everyone and everything on this planet forever.

* * *

**Please tell me your thoughts. Underneath you will find some ideas for some curse series and the like, would like some feedback. **

* * *

**Curse/ blessed series ideas**

**Cursed series: Dark genesis**

Probably not happening, anything i could come up with would be pointless for ainz to use as he would already have something that could do it. I.e [The Goal of all Life is Death] for instance. i did come up with the equivalent of the iron maiden; an inverse cross that would crush enemies with sharp teeth in its cross section.

**Alternate to Curse series**: Soul Breaker shield:

Cure elms hate for players was so intense that he created his own form of wild magic that used the souls of the dead instead of the souls of the living, with this new form of wild magic he created a breath spell - in the form of a white laser - that acted in the same way as the world item Longinus; completely wiping the target out of existence if they did not have world item equipped. Its creation was intended with the sole purpose of destroying players in one shot.

For a curse series based on this idea it would drain Ainz of literally everything... stamina, life force (negative energy), mana and sp leaving him with 1hp and debuffs that would render all his attacks negligible to any target for a period of time. (Imagen Megumin from konosuba after casting _**Explotion!)**_(he'd probably never use this unless it was an absolute last resort, which would be almost impossible as TGoALiD in tandem with a death spell can kill anything, it's not a NLF, it totally removes the resistances and immunity of death on a target within the context of a death spell that was applied to it. (E.g Cry of the banshee + TGoALiD = something, very, very dead)

**Alternate to Blessed series:**

So I with the input of reviewers may have come up with something - this is only an idea so don't get mad at me if this seems stupid.

Ainz has always relied on the advice, strength and support of his friends to get him through some situations, and i'd like to think this would be one of those situations.

How does the YGGDRASIL Series sound? Touch Me's World Champion set alone would make him bullshit op when at max level, like white beard from one-piece turned up to 13 bullshit... of course he won't start at that point I'm just throwing out some ideas here.

Cast of World Break for example.

_{From its roots to its canopy I am a constant, I'm am its servant and Champion, to invoke its name is to call upon its power. By the will of the great world tree YGGDRASIL I cast World Break!}_

Ulberts Grand Catastrophe (not sure about this one or how to give it to him- may not happen)

_{From its root to its canopy I am its end, I am its ash I am its destruction, in Níðhöggr place and his unyielding hunger for the world tree YGGDRASIL I cast: Grand Catastrophe!}_

Disclaimer Ainz will not be getting this until he figures out how to copy shields. I know how the blessed series' works within the shield verse but I (as have many others) can't see Ainz falling to the sin curses because of his suppressor. Some ppl have said why not give him the greed series but what is it? What effects does it have and how would he acquire it? I don't think ainz is necessarily greedy, hes a collector and a businessman, Naofumi was a merchant and yet he hasn't gotten the greed variant of the curse series so why should Ainz. idk let me know your thoughts.

also let me know somthing do you want quicker release at the cost of length or longer chapters that will take longer to come out, but will be muchbigger than anything ive released so far?


	4. Chapter 4

**its not the full thing but i wanted to release something to celabrate this story reaching 1000 follows and 38000 veiews. Thankyou so much guys! **

**I spent far too long just trying to figure out which direction I wanted to take the relationship between Ainz and Raphtalia so this chapter is a bit... kind of all over the place with regards to that. I was trying to take it in the direction of a teacher and a student, but also a parallel of Satoru and Keno from the overlord side story. so i hope it comes across as that. **

**I'd like to apologise about my statement on the greed series from last chapter. I was wrong.**

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**

* * *

Thoughts "_This is a thought."_

Talking "Hey listen!"

Overlord spell [Fireball]

Shield hero spell {Zweite quick Aqua Slash}

Message _("This is a message.") _

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Replies to reviews

**Setokayba2n **

Oh definitely I've got something planned for our loveable Half-Tanuki that might make her early LN counterpart look like a toddler in terms of fighting strength. I'm still working on the details so nothing is set in stone as of yet.

**Eu sunt Dracul 1**

Thanks, that means a lot.

**Zero Senpi **

While it's a good idea, I don't think Ainz would do that. Dont worry ive got something planned for Nazarick.

**MSDeus **

Agreed if all of Nazarick showed up, Melromarch is screwed, but I'm not going to do that... **;)** I mean can you imagine what would happen if say gargantua was brought to this world, it would be like what happened with the spirit tortoise. I have no doubt it could wipe out a country in an afternoon if ordered to do so.

Also I have the interaction between Biscus, the church and Ainz planned out too, well the basics anyway.

…

Thanks for the reviews guys

* * *

**Overlord and the Shield**

**Chapter 4**

**Forest**

When Ainz stepped out of the gate just within view of his fortress, a new notification appeared on his HUD.

**Attention! Physical removal of item: !&%^#$* has not been completed.**

**Permission needed: An attempt to commune with item: !&%^#$* will be made, do you wish to continue?**

**Yes** **No**

"Wait, what?!" He exclaimed in confusion. "_What does that mean? It wants to talk to it, is that even possible? No, if even the possibility exists that I lose the stored strength it has built up over the past fifty two years; definitely not, I'm not risking it. The last time I used it, seven hundred players died instantly and that was only after two years..." _

**Attention! Permission has been denied, attempting to resolve through other means. **

**Notice: Unforeseen issues may persist as item: !&%^#$* stays equipped. **

**Attention! New critical system acquired. Item Merger now available.**

_"So that means it is giving me the option to do it manually, there is no further information on what it does, I can already sacrifice items to the shield like the health potion... ahhh."_

Relenting and mostly wanting to test the effects of the newly acquired system, Ainz pulled a plain grey steel collar out of his inventory.

He looked at the collar briefly wondering if potentially losing one of these items would be worth it. They were mostly useless till now as no one originally from Nazarick could make proper use of them, the only ones who could were the people of the new world like the lizard men and Hamsuke, besides he had hundreds of these things sitting in the treasury. Ainz focused on the new icon at the bottom right of his HUD. A new sub menu opened up with two options.

…**..**

Collar of Spartacus

!&%^#$*

…**..**

After selecting the top most option, another notice asking for permission appeared in his view, he focused on yes and as soon as he agreed the collar began to turn into motes of purple light and drift towards the shields green gem.

Yet another notice appeared letting him know that the collar had been accepted and its effects were now party wide.

Normally the collar would be worn by those trying to level up quickly, giving the user a 1.5x exp multiplier at the cost of reduced attack and defence stats, both of these effects seemed to carry over as indicated by the small status arrows next to his name.

He wondered if it was possible to turn the effects off, having a constant debuff would get tiresome pretty quickly if he was faced with a strong enemy. He looked back down and focused on the icon, finding that the collar was blinking slowly on and off in a highlighted green.

Ainz focused on the words of the collar and found the same light the item made when entering the green gem at the center of the shield drifting out and back towards his opened hand re-materialising into a solid object, the moment it did raphtalia had stepped through the still open gate.

"S-s-sir i-is that for, u-um for me?" She asked nervously with eyes wide in thoughts of betrayal.

"No" he replied in a flat tone of voice. "I was conducting an experiment with my shield." he said, shaking the item on his forearm.

"O-oh, I see." she stuttered in relief.

keh~ keh~ keh~

"Hmm." Ainz reached into his inventory and pulled out a small glass vial full of a dull purple liquid "I want you to drink this, it's a healing potion, it should cure that cough and heal any injuries you have."

"I- it looks like poison."

"Just drink it, I have no objective in poisoning you, in fact it would serve as more of a detriment to me."

"Sir?" Raphtalia asked, taking the small vile out of the large dark armored hand.

"Yes?"

"What are you? Everything in my body is telling me to run away from you, why is that?"

"Do you know what the shield hero is?"

"Yes my mother and father told me stories about the waves and the heroes who came to stop them, before - before they died… Wait, are you saying you're one of the legendary Heroes?

"I am, but it was involuntary. I was taken from my world and family, then forced into being the shield hero, I think we're much alike in that aspect aren't we?"

"Mmh, yeah" she replied sadly, remembering all the things that happened after the first wave, the soldiers, that mean noble and Rifana. "But why am I so afraid of you then? I don't want to be… you've been so kind to me, but i-it's like you're wrong somehow."

"Hmm, I don't know the cause of that." He remarked in implied contemplation. "However I do have a theory if you would indulge me. One of my past friends once said that animals and by extension demi-humans such as yourself have the ability to sense things like natural disasters and dangerous events. You're likely having a reaction to me because I'm so much stronger than you are."

"Just how strong are you?"

"Do you see anything in your field of view? It should be up in the top left of your vision?"

She looked up then to the left awkwardly and shook her head. "No there's nothing there, why?"

"I see well that makes this a bit more difficult… how to explain this. Lets, for example, say you're level one in terms of overall strength and fighting ability, understand?"

"Um, I think so?"

"Good, now in terms of fighting strength I am level one hundred, I believe you are simply sensing the disparity between us. That is why your body is telling you to flee. It understands that it can't win." "_Well that's at least what i'd tell you if i didn't want to keep the fact that I'm undead a secret." _

"D-do you think I could get as strong as you one day?"

"It's possible but I'm unsure as to how the rules of this world work, would you like to help me figure them out?"

"Mh, hm yeah! But. um, you - you have to make sure you beat the waves, okay!"

"Those are acceptable terms, now drink that potion and we'll get started."

"Started on what?"

"Your training, that thrust earlier was pathetic." In response the girl made an offended expression and looked to the side while crossing her arms. After drinking the potion she quickly followed Ainz through the forest until they reached the open field that sat in front of it, several of the orange balls like the one she had killed earlier in the shop began to race at them seemingly unperturbed by the dark knight ahead of them.

Raphtalia noticed this and quickly hid behind Ainz legs in an attempt to become invisible. "I'll kill a few, you can take out the rest." the overlord said, holding out his hand in the direction of the approaching enemies.

[Fireball] he cast. The ball of flame shot out of his hand and made contact with some of the little monsters killing them. "Why are you waiting? Quickly, while they're stunned." He said looking down at the girl still gripping tight his armored leg.

"Oh, right." she exclaimed, pulling her dagger from its sheath and ran towards the enemies rolling around in confusion. She paused in front of one and looked at it before stabbing down, her hand on the pomal to add more force to the strike popping it instantly upon contact.

She quickly moved onto the next to do the same for each, when she was done Ainz walked up to her and pet her head lightly. "You did well, but why did you hesitate on the first one?"

"I felt sorry for it…" she replied nervously.

"Don't." he stated strictly. "Hesitating could get you killed. Some monsters feign being hurt to draw in unsuspecting victims, so if you get the chance, kill it quickly, never give them a chance to retaliate."

"Yes Sir…"

"Good, we will stay here for a while and level you up, after that we will move back into the forest for some stronger enemies."

"Okay." she exclaimed looking around the field until she locked onto something at the edge of her vision. "Whoa! What's that?" the girl asked in childish wonder while pointing at the smoking billowing thing in the field.

"That is… Let's get back to work."

But…" she retorted, spinning back around only to see the retreating form of… what should she call him? She knew his name - "Suzuki Satoru" - but she didn't feel it would be right to call him "_Master"_. She wasn't a slave anymore.

He kind of reminded her of the old man that lived in her village when she was younger; he stayed away from people and got angry when they got near. She once asked her father who the old man was and why he was like that. He said that the old man fought in the war and that he lost people close to him. "_Did he lose people too?"_

"Are you coming." the black knight asked looking over his shoulder.

"Yes... Suzuki." she whispered in reply and quickly ran after him.

…

Their time on the plain lasted longer than Ainz expected. After a handful of hours Raphtalia had stated she was tired and hungry, so the two made their way back into the forest killing a few monsters as they did. When they reached Ainz' fortress he considered just giving her a ring of sustenance and be done with the issue but as Demiurge had worked out early on, the ring would actively interfere with the growth of children - Ainz was still not sure as to how the demon had figured that out - so as he was unsure as to how that fact would interfere with the way demi human bodies worked, he decided to leave it for now.

Currently, Ainz found himself staring at the readout before him in confusion. "_This doesn't make any sense." _he thought. "_It's completely random, there's no pattern to it at all. I could say the first one was a fluke, but the four after that…" _

"What's wrong?" the girl asked, looking up from her quick meal while her tail wagged in delight.

"Nothing too important, just a bit confused; the thing I would call resources - your health points, mana and stamina - are increasing at a rather erratic rate, the only thing that stayed consistent was the amount of exp to level up. Take your health for example, it was fifty six when you were level one, when you leveled up to level two it increased by thirty six points when you leveled up again to three it went up by twenty seven, on the next fifty two and on the one after that forty three."

"I think I get what you're saying, it means I'm getting stronger right?"

"Errh, yes." he replied flatly. "Once you're done eating we will begin moving again."

"Mmm." she hummed cheerfully and went back to eating her cooked fish.

The Overlord turned back to his shield, closed the status menu and continued to feed it the monster parts he had gathered on their way back into the forest. He had unlocked several shields so far that he had personally found useless - as an undead - like the mush shields that allowed for low level alchemy mixing and the cooking skills he got from the egg shields; for his recent companion on the other hand she seemed to appreciate the results.

"Ahhh, done. That was so good, thank you!" the girl exclaimed happily.

"It was no problem." He replied, waving away the thanks. He finished feeding the shield what items were still in his hand and quickly put the rest away into his dimensional storage got

Once the materials were safely secured Ainz got up from his seated position and made his way over to the door of the fortress. "Come here for a moment please." he asked.

"Ah, sure. What do you want me to do?"

"It's simple I'd like you to try and open this door, don't worry if you can't." In YGGDRASIL, anyone in the same party could open the door with a touch. In his world it worked differently, even if he considered them friendly they would not be able to pass through. And now in this world, since it has a party system he was curious as to how the door would judge the girl; would she be considered friendly or a neutral entity.

With an unsure "okay." she ran up to it and pushed maybe a little too hard. The door flung open and she landed face first on the hardwood floor. "Ouch." she announced _flatly. _"What happened?" she asked pushing up with water wobbling at the edge of her eyes.

"My apologies, I should have been a bit more specific as to how you should approach it. Normally the only one who can open this door is me, but with this world's party system it seems you can as well; that means it's at least similar enough to that system that the rules of it still apply."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, rubbing her sore nose.

"Nothing you need worry about. Lets go."

"But, wait - what was the point of it?"

He turned around and looked down to her position with a non-existent raised brow. "Do you not recall me asking you earlier if you wanted to help me find out how this world works. The thing I just asked you to do was an experiment to figure out how the party mechanics of this world work; thank you for that by the way it was very informative."

she looked up at him in mild disbelief. "You're not like the old man at all!"

"What?"

"It's nothing." she grumbled.

"I see…" he hummed, unsure of what she meant by him not being "like that old man". He could find out later once she was asleep, it would probably be the best time to scan her memories. Distracted by his thoughts he didn't realise he was moving at an accelerated pace.

Raphtalia quickly realised that he wasn't going to wait for her as his form started to disappear from sight. "Hey! Wait for me!" she cried out and ran after him.

…

By the time the two returned to base the light of the sun was threatening to depart from the world. Raphtalia was able to gain another few levels for a total of eight, the only reason she was able to achieve this in such a short time was because Ainz had merged the collar with the shield once the girl had reached level five.

He wanted to see if levels gained while under the effects of the collar would affect the stats gained from said levels but unfortunately there was no discernible difference. "It's still random."

"Su- Sir?"

"Yes?" he inquired, looking down at the girl beside him as they walked back towards the fortress.

"I'm feeling... kind of tired after training all day an- and…"

"Are you trying to ask for something? You don't need to be so nervous about it."

"Oh, yes Sir. I was wondering if there was a bed in that place that I can use?" She asked pointing towards the large structure that was peeking through the top of the tree line.

"I see. If you go inside and up the stairs on the right there should be several alcoves with beds within, you may pick one."

"Ah, thank you." She exclaimed as her eyes brightened slightly. When they reached the door she pushed it open - not too hard this time - and inside and up the stairs. Ainz followed at a steady pace behind her childish speed.

He found her rubbing her head against the white pillow of the bead furthest from the stairs. "It's so soft! What's this bed made out of?"

"Magic technically."

"Magic can do that?" the girl asked in wonder as she sat up.

"Mine can, I'm not so sure about this world's magic; I've yet to experience it - besides the ritual that summoned me here - so I am unsure as to its inner workings." "_Though I hope to remedy that tonight."_

"What _Can_ you do with your magic?"

"A lot." he replied flatly and walked over to the girl. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a small necklace. It was made from a small clear gem with a well threaded piece of rope for its link.

"Take this." He commanded, she quickly took hold of it and looked at it with curiosity. "It is a [Pendant of Message], I will be going out tonight and won't be back until later so if you need me you can call me with this."

"But... How do I use it?"

"Hmm. First start by having it equipped. Then… I'm not sure if this will work but try making a mental picture of me and saying [message]."

She dropped the rope around her neck then tightly held onto the crystal, she closed her eyes and thought of the man she had trained with all day. "[Message]" she exclaimed.

("C- can you hear me?")

"C- can you hear me?

("Yes, but you are also speaking the word as well, try thinking about words and pushing them through the connection. This spell can be used to have a private conversations so make sure you differentiate between the two or there could be potential repercussions.")

"Sorry Su- Sir, let me try."

("..s th..s be..ter?")

("Close, but your words were choppy. We will continue later tomorrow.") [Sleep] Well.

"Yes, S- Sir." she stuttered in weariness.

"Good." he hummed and walked down stairs, leaving the girl to sleep in peace.

When he reached the middle of the room he changed from his Momon set to his divine set. He pointed his skeletal hand at the floor and said [Summon Demonic 5th: Shadow Demon]. A red magic circle appeared on the floor that spun briefly before disappearing in a red flash. In its place was a small orb of darkness quiverd in place.

"There is a girl on the level above this one, you are to guard her, contact me if anything odd happens... like spontaneous growth." Ainz commanded. It quiverd again and sped towards the stairs.

He summoned several more demons - ordering them to hide in his own shadow - and made his way to the door. He quickly cast [Perfect Unknowable] and walked outside into the moonlight night.

Once outside, about twenty meters from the fortress the Overlord looked up at the sky admiring the stars for a moment before he cast [fly] and took off in the direction of the bandit camp his hanzo had told him about the day before.

He flew for almost two minutes, passing over a village and a few small mountains until he reached an area that opened up to an expansive field past the greater forest. He paused mid air and waited for the hanzo to contact.

("My lord you will find this one directly below you!") the Hanzo exclaimed through the message.

("I see.") Ainz replied descending to the earth below. When he landed the invisible ninja blurred into existence next to him and revealed itself.

"Where are they? And what are their numbers." the overlord asked, dismissing his own invisibility and casting a small [Anti-Information Magic Wall] so they couldn't be observed by others.

"Yes my Lord. they are approximately two hundred twenty meters south from this location hidden within a small artificial cave system locked behind a thin iron metal door; they are fifteen in number with all of them being males."

"I see. Is there any among them that are unique, can use magic or are over the equivalent of level 60?"

"The answer is yes to both of your first two inquiries my lord, but none of them are over level 60. There is a man that is stronger than all of the others, he wields a low grade katana like sword. There is also a mage but from what this one has seen of his magic I would find it hard to give him such a title, at best he is a flint and steel."

"Interesting, so he is a fire mage then?"

"Y yes..." It stuttered.

"Ah my apologies that was a stupid question, please put it out of your mind."

"It is already done my lord. Do you require anything else from this one?"

"Yes. shadow demons, you are now under the command of this hanzo. Follow its orders as if they were my own." From the moonlit shadow that Ainz' figure cast on the ground several blots of darkness moved and raced into the hanzo's own.

"With these I want you to start observing priority targets such as the church, the king, the shadows and any other target you deem necessary. I leave it up to you, but make no mistake, this is to be purely an information gathering operation. Killing is off the table unless you ask for permission to do so. Also tell your brother to expand its search radius to the entire country of Melromarch, Am I understood?"

"Brother? Ah yes, As clear as crystal my lord. this one will ground itself to dust before we fail this task!"

"Very good, you may start immediately!" Ainz commanded, taking magnanimous pose number five.

"Yes!" it exclaimed and disappeared in a blur once more.

Ainz sighed and turned around to head in the direction of the cave. Hopefully this world's magic would be more useful than the wild magic of his world. After the Platinum Dragon lord died, his corps was taken to Nazarick where Ainz had used the one skill he had yet to use in the new word.

He had no use for the skill at first as it was thought that tier magic was the only magic system in that world, but when Pandora's Actor had his fight with the soul armor known as Riku just before the fall of the Re-Estize kingdom, wild magic was discovered and brought to the forefront of Nazariks attention.

The final and end result of this discovery was Ainz using the Overlord skill [Dark Wisdom] on the corps of the dragon lord and acquiring all the spells it was capable of, but, unfortunately the proper use of this magic was… not possible, he didn't have the soul mana required to cast them whatsoever.

Ainz stopped at the entrance of the cave just out of eye sight of the bandits within and cast [invisibility], his for shifted to that of absolute transparency

...

"Hey, Calvin did'ya hear that just now?"

"Na not a thing. Maybe someone should go check outside," the man exclaimed while looking at his fellow bandit.

"Whaddya look'n at me fer, go get that chicken shit Malcolm he'll do anythin you tel'em to."

"Yeah now that I think about it I guess he does hahah…" the man started to laugh but stopped at the midpoint between breaths falling face first; dead.

"Yo Calvin, ya right bud? What happened?" the dead man's friend asked, kneeling down to rock his fellow back and forth in an attempt to rouse him from is soulless slumber.

"He's dead." a Deep voice stated in absolute confidence.

The unnamed man looked up, swivelling his head back and forth in an attempt to find the voice's location. "Show yer'self ya bastard!" he yelled.

"Very well." the voice said flatly and revealed itself. He'd seen undead before like the zombies that spawned during the wave, yet this one was completely different on an entirely new level, he felt it like its existence was death itself.

"Holly! Wait isn't that?" He questioned looking down at the item on the skeleton's arm "Yer the shiel... gahh." the man grunted as the skeleton grabbed his face and lifted him up into the air. He attempted to scream for help but the thumb of the massive skeletal hand cupped his chin preventing him from doing so.

"I require your assistance, if you comply I will grant you mercy. Blink twice if you understand." The bandit didn't hesitate in doing so and the skeleton moved its thumb to just below the man's cheekbone allowing him to talk.

"Good. There is a man inside that can use fire magic, correct?" the skeleton asked.

"Yes, ya want Malcolm in the blue shirt! Go through the door behind me, down the tunnel, his bunk is the first on the right!" he exclaimed hurriedly, wondering why the guys on the other side of the door hadn't heard him.

"I see, and just in case are there any escape tunnels in this place?" The man didn't answer; he seemed to be rather reserved about that information, so Ainz began to squeeze only lightly at first until the pressure became unbearable.

"Yes! yes! There's one in the boss's room, now let me go!" the bandit exclaimed with beads of sweat rolling down his skin.

"Oh, you seem to be mistaken. I said I would grant you mercy not let you go." he replied ominously and stated to squeeze again. "Bu.. yer... the sh...ield her- Gahhhh!" Pop*

"I am Ainz Ooal Gown first." he stated, dropping the corps and shaking his hand free of the brain matter that had burst from the top of the nameless bandits head, he looked back down at the body thrusting out his hand and casting [Create Undead: Death Knight] on both the bodies within the cave.

The Overlord didn't wait for his summons to form before making his way further in. Once Ainz reached the iron door he wondered how he was going to handle this, multiple plans flashed through his mind before he made his decision.

[Widen Magic: Mass Hold Species] the spell immediately took effect and everyone within the cave stopped in their tracks, he felt one resisting - likely the stronger one - but in the end the bandit was unable to break free.

The next thing Ainz did was grab the top left corner of the iron door and pull, the door screeched and waned as it was pulled from the rocky frame it sat in. As expected there was a bolt lock holding it shut from the inside but the way in which the door was removed made its existence pointless.

The two bandits standing on the inside started to leak an aroma of urine as the door was removed behind them, they wanted to scream and run to leave this place and never return but they couldn't. It was simply impossible.

Finally with the door being removed entirely - bent and crumpled like a piece of discarded trash - the Overlord entered walking past the two bandits, down the rocky tunnel - passing a few more panicking bandits - and entered the first room on the right. Laying on one of the four bunks inside was a fairly average looking human with black hair and rough blue shirt.

"It is nice to meet you Malcolm." Ainz stated, picking up the small man in the same way he had done with the bandit before. "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown and I am the shield hero, you have chosen to aid me in my journey to save this world. Unfortunately, you are not personally needed. I only require your body. [Death] " the bandit didn't even have time to despair or ask why this was happening to him. He simply… Just... Died.

Ainz dropped the body of the bandit flat and set about doing what he was here for. "[Skill: Dark Wisdom]" At Ainz' behest a small black void spread beneath the corps stopping at a radius just big enough to swallow it entirely. As the body sank lower new knowledge filtered into the Overlords mind. Knowledge of the single spell this man knew and knowledge of how the system worked as a whole.

"_I see, this is interesting at the very least."_ Ainz thought, walking back out into the tunnel to the bandits he had passed earlier. He stopped before a tall man with a mohawk in a black shirt and a growing wet spot on his purple pants.

Tears began to leak out of the man's eyes as ainz pointed a skeletal finger towards him {On my authority as the Shield Hero I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and cast a flame on my target, First flame}

Upon his cast a weak looking flame formed at the tip of his pointed finger which started to slowly drift towards the now crying man. When it finally came into contact with the man's face it instantly set his entire form alight.

"So it does scale with my magic attack stat as well as the shield attack stat. You have my thanks." he stated toward the silently squealing man. Ainz turned his form to look at the burning man's friend who was currently in a similar emotional state; eyes leaking tears of despair, wet pants stained with piss, it was obvious the man was scared out of his mind.

Ainz went to raise his hand once more to test the quick cast of the spell but stopped, instead he put his hand up to his temple and answered the message.

("...!")

("I see, Go sit on your bed and calm down. I will be back shortly.")

("...")

("No, just calm down i'll be back in a moment.")

("...")

("Good") he replied to the scared girl on the other end. He sighed again and walked past the man to the perceived center of the cave. He wanted to conduct some experiments on the rest of the bandits, especially the strong one yet the needs of an emotional child could be argued to be more important.

Thus he cast [Widen magic: Cry of the Banshee." an extremely loud wail of a woman echoed through the air emanating from Ainz carrying with it an instant death effect that killed everyone within the cave.

"_I'll have to come back later and turn them all."_ he reasoned, walking toward the entrance of the cave. Once he reached the door he ordered the two death knights to stay put and kill anyone that attempted to enter.

Each of the knights gave a hollow grunt of understanding and stepped to the side, stiffened their forms in a statuesque manner. The overlord nodded, opened a [Gate] and changed back to his Momon set of armor before stepping through.

* * *

**Well that's it for now let me know what you think and how i went about the relationship dynamics of Ainz and Raphtalia.**

**Also ive changed the name of the story to "The Ascendance of the Overlord and the Shield" **

**Can someone please tell me if say, for example, a hero was to consume an entire waves worth of exp without letting the other heroes gain any would that then give them the greed or glutony curse series and if so what would they do? The wiki is kind of usless when it comes to acctualy telling me what they do. **

**See you in the next one!**


	5. Chapter 5

….

**The Ascendance of the Overlord and the Shield**

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**

* * *

Review replies.

To everyone that replied to my questions about how the curses series functioned, thank you so much it helped me immeasurably and I may have come up with something that works with Ainz and his suppressor.

**Pickled**.

Thanks! I took the fact about the seven hundred players from the web novel as it has a few more facts about his world item than the LN. It was specifically said that his WI was responsible for taking out just under half of the 1500 players that invaded Nazarick. If people aren't happy about me using that fact I'm happy to go back and take it out, it was only meant as an off hand comment to demonstrate what it was capable of.

**Dan05**

Thanks I am trying to develop her in a different direction as she isn't with Naofumi so it's pretty much a given that she would change at least somewhat.

As for the shadow demons, I'm actually not sure how they function, summons come from a place, where or what that place is, who knows. If this was D&D… demons would be summoned from the 9 circles of hell/ Muspulhiem. Assuming the demons have to take over something just like undead to stay permanent in a world, I'd say it would be the local shadows around them.

**NightHawk The Warrior**

Yep Ainz is an undead and as such has a natural weakness to the holy, good and fire elements. That said the holy/cardinal weapons are only that in name until they're upgraded, they don't naturally have the holy element at the start. So the answer is Yes, definitely they could become a threat to Ainz later down the line.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Raphtalia **

When Ainz stepped out of the [Gate] he was met with a surprise he didn't expect. Kneeling before him was a human, the form was androgynous and covered in a black cloth material that showed no skin. But something was telling him, this was the same girl who had watched him in the royal court.

"What do you want?" The Overlord asked, walking past the shadow to his fortress.

"I dare say It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Sir shield hero, I have come as a representative of her Majesty the Queen, who humbly begs your forgiveness for not coming herself.

Ainz said nothing, waving away the concern, prompting them to continue.

"She wishes to confirm your intentions with regards to the country of Melromarch." they questioned in a feminine voice, following behind Ainz at a distance; clearly on alert.

"You have been watching me for the last three days, why contact me now?"

The shadow stopped suddenly in surprise then continued as if nothing happened "An understandable concern. After your performance in the throne room and the subsequent explosion in front of the castle wall, we... forgive me for being so blunt, but we believed your nature to be overall… hostile; I dare say. But your interactions with the child this past afternoon while numb emotionally made us reevaluate our preconceived notions of you, thus we choose to approach you at an opportune moment."

"I see. Please, if you would. Could you confirm something for me, this county is a matriarchy, correct?"

"Yes." The shadow replied succinctly, bobbing their head slightly.

"Hmm, then the King falls under the Queen in terms of political position and standing. If that is the case, was it the will of her Majesty to have me framed for the sexual abuse of her daughter? Or was this some I'll conceived ploy by an over ambitious child?"

"I'm afraid it is the latter Sir shield hero, Princess Malty was working in conjunction with the church to initiate your current circumstances."

"The church? Then I can assume that this has something to do with me being the shield hero?" "_It seems I was right to have the hanzo delve into their inner workings."_

"It does, I dare say. Melromarc is predominantly a human supremacist nation so it was to be expected that you would be treated improperly."

"How so? I do not fully understand what you are implying?" He questioned with a raised brow on his non-existent face.

"My apologies, allow us to explain. The shield hero's prior to yourself were more accepting of demi-humans and therianthropes, this was seen as an 'issue' by the Church who preached in the name of God that humans were superior."

"How idiotic." he mumbled flatly, finally reaching the fortress door. "Do you wish to come in? I want to continue this conversation but I have another matter to attend to." He asked the shadow still standing a few steps back from himself.

"That door can only be opened by you or the girl if we are not mistaken; please allow us to remain outside while you conduc-" suddenly the shadow stopped mid sentence and went for the knife hidden on their back

"S-S-Suz-Suzuki?" A soft, meek and barely audible voice questioned from behind the door as it opened slightly; a teary eyed child looking out from behind.

_"So she finally said it, it feels kinda wired hearing that name being said out loud again."_ Ainz turned and knelt down to look at the girl.

"Raphtalia, may I come in?" He asked as softly as he could. In reply she looked at the figure standing a distance away and asked in a nervous voice. "W-who is th-that?"

Ainz turned to look at the shadow once more, confirming that they had reverted to their normal posture, he answered the child's question.

"They're… an acquaintance. Could I ask you to move out of the way please?"

"Mmm…" she hummed and lightly ran to sit on the couch inside.

Ainz got up and turned back to fully address his _guest. _"If you do not wish to enter that is entirely understandable considering your warryness and my own, but I am not one to leave a guest without comfort. Please, take a seat. I will be back out shortly. [Silent: Create Greater Item]

The shadow jumped aside and grabbed the knife on their belt as a blue shimmering light appeared next to them. When the light finally dissipated, the shadow was surprised to see an elegant piece of black furniture just sitting there.

They looked back up to where the shield hero was only to see a closed door.

…

The Overlord quickly walked inside and knelt down to look at the girl for what felt like the hundredth time today, internally wondering what he was going to do next.

She stared up at him - even when he kneeled he was still taller than her - with the fear of being abandoned like before shimmering in her eyes. She didn't want to go back to that cage, not now, not ever, she was free though so maybe she could just run and hopefully find Sadeena. But, as if sensing her anxious thoughts Ainz did something unexpected- at least to her. He picked her up, gently and carefully, resting her on the cold metal plate of his forearm, raising her up to sight line with himself as he stood up.

"Are you alright?" He asked, holding her back with his other hand so she wouldn't fall backwards.

"I- no. I don't know…" she uttered quietly, placing her hand on one of his shoulder pauldrons for balance.

"Can you tell me about your nightmare?"

"Mmm-mmm." She hummed, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"I see." He muttered quietly, walking towards the stairs.

"W- what are you doing?" she asked with hints of surprise.

"Taking you back to bed, I'm not sure what you want me to do if you won't tell me about your nightmare, I can't tell you how to overcome it."

"I... okay."

"Good." he nodded and continued up the stairs.

Once he reached her alcove he placed her on the bed gently, turned around to the large open space and cast [Create Greater Item]. A shimmering light brightened the already illuminated floor then a second later the light dispersed, in its place was a basic, ornate steel chair.

"That's cool!" the girl exclaimed, briefly forgetting about her emotional whoas.

"Thank you." he returned, picking up the chair and moving it besides the large bed.

Raphtalia looked on with curiosity watching as he slowly removed his helm, she hadn't seen his face yet and genuinely wanted to know what he looked like under that armor and… it was kind of a let down honestly.

In a word he was _gruff. _Definitely not a knight in shining armour.

"Not what you expected?" the Overlord asked.

"N-not really." she replied somewhat nervously.

Ainz let out a small chuckle and stated "It's fine, I take no offence."

"S-sorry…"

"Apology accepted. Now, can you tell me about your nightmare?"

"Oh... yes Sir." she replied, losing the awe-full atmosphere that momentarily surrounded her.

The Overlord sat patiently letting her work through it at her own pace, she had broken down into tears multiple times even before she began the retelling of her parents deaths, the memory seemed to be especially hard on her so much that he had to give her an item others would see as a detriment to her mental health.

If he had any other options like the spell [Lions heart] he would have used it on her but he was not a paladin and any scrolls he had would not be useful in this particular situation thus he pulled the [Ring of Undead] out of his inventory.

Most players would wear this item at lower levels as at that point their character resistances to panic, fear or berserker and other such status effects would be very low, often getting them killed in serious situations such as low level raids and dungeons. It was kind of overkill as instead of simply granting the user more resistance to status effects related to emotions it would make them immune which was why it was named as such.

The only reason he had one of these rings was because he won it in a duel. Even after all these years he still couldn't figure out what the idiot's reasoning was. Maybe the fact they were clad in full divine gear made them overconfident but the fact was they were still only level 96, it should have been obvious that they stood no chance of winning in a 1v1 situation, even in death that guy was still disappointing they only dropped this - until now useless - ring.

Upon Raphtalia equipping the item its effects were immediate, the tears leaking from her eyes stopped - hanging there like a remnant of emotion and the quick, heavy breathing that plagued her body became calm and resonant.

"I feel weird." she stated in an almost monotonous voice.

"That is just the effect of the ring, can you continue?"

"Yes." She replied flatly with eyes that almost seemed dead as she began to retell in finer detail of what she remembered of the wave and her parents. The time after that when she encouraged her village to rebuild and the evil knights that came after, the ones that killed all the men and sold the rest into slavery.

She further explained that after she was sold to the slave merchant she was purchased by another. A man on the kinder side that treated her well and only wanted her as a house servant. It didn't last long though… she was returned a few days later, even now she couldn't figure out why they did that.

She was then sold to another but the same thing happened again.

The third time was undoubtedly the worst out of them all. She was taken to a dungeon where she was able to meet with some of the people she hadn't seen since that day the knights came. She remembered being happy that she was able to find Rifana once more, but that happiness was only an illusion as in the weeks to come both of them would be tortured for hours on end by a fat man with a whip who hung them both up and beat them until they were covered in blood.

She told Ainz that the fat man had marked her with something that would activate when she did not show pain, she tried to remain strong for as long as possible but the whip and the mark were driving her insane. The only thing keeping her so, were the thoughts of returning home with Rifana.

Although the tortuous circle would continue with no end in sight, the sessions continued to get longer and longer, the pain growing in strength with them, she could only hope that someone would come and save them, the villagers or maybe Sadeena.

Unfortunately Rifana was getting sick, she could barely move or eat, she tried to comfort her friend whenever she could but there was nothing much she could do. Later one night the fat man walked into their cell screaming at Rifana to get up only to find that she was dead, at the time Raphtalia had not registered what was going on even as she was dragged out of the cell by the yelling fat man.

The fat man was mad, finally sick of Raphtalia's... lack of reaction to his _entertainment sessions _\- not once had she cried during her torturous sessions with the man she had resolved herself never to do so again - he brought her a crystal ball that showed her images of her devastated village, it was ruined and collapsed, nothing remained, it even may have been unrecognizable if not for fact that the flag that the nice governor had given them, the flag that was a symbol of the town and the people in it, one that signified their independence, a beacon of hope… was laying on the grown torn, trampled and scorched.

This finally broke her, she felt she failed them; the people of her village, her friends and most of all her parents. They entrusted her to guide the village forward, to protect it… it was gone. And just like that of the flag that was ruined on the grown the dam that was her resolve was torn to ribbons, in her mind she finally began to cry, tears let loose by devastation and despair; of her friend that she now knew to be dead, of the village she would likely never get to see again.

…

"It was for his own entertainment." she stated in a cold distant voice that didn't fit with a normal ten year old girl.

"I see. I'm sorry you had to go through that." the Overlord replied. It was the only response he could give. He didn't know what else to say, this girl had suffered through so many traumatic events that he was honestly impressed that she was still sane.

"May I have the ring back?" He asked, holding out his hand. She hummed in the affirmative beginning to remove it slowly. As soon as the ring left her hand the emotions connected to the memories she just shared flooded back into her mind all at once and with a wide eyed "Ehh?" she collapsed onto the bead.

"_Wait… What just happened?_" he quickly cast [Life Essence] and found that her health had dropped slightly leaving him more confused. "_Was it mental backlash? Hopefully I didn't just turn her into a potato…_" the Overlord let out a tied sigh. At least now he had an excuse to look inside her memories, not that he needed one.

[Control Amnesia]

Ainz, having cast this spell many times before, was confident in his ability to sort through the memories of the girl without breaking her mind any further than it already was. From what he could tell everything was intact, the grey or murky frames that represented missing or forgotten memories were few and far between.

"_She probably just fainted." _he thought in conclusion.

The efficiency of this spell was rather on the low side and as such he could feel his mana slipping away as the seconds passed by, he wanted to do three things while he was here inside her memories - confirm exactly what the wave was, look at what the girl had experienced first hand and finally who this Sadeena woman was that she briefly mentioned.

He started with the most recent memories first as it was the most efficient way to use the spell - the further one went back in someone's memories the more mana would be drained per second.

He stated with the memories of the "_Fat man"_ as she called him; an accurate description. The _Fat man _was clearly some type of noble if the way he dressed was anything to go by. He was not here to watch the girl get tortured so after memorising the man's face he quickly moved on to the wave.

The memory started with Raphtalia looking happily at a girl of - from what he could tell - a similar race to her with deep grey blond hair and bright summer yellow eyes, he knew this to be Raphtalias friend, the one that died in the noble's dungeon, 'Rifana' he thinks she called her.

The two talked for a while, some of it a bit uncomfortable for him personally; being the shield hero. He moved the memory along at an accelerated pace until something notable finally happened. Suddenly, there was a loud bass, sound that spread throughout the area turning the sky red above them.

Swirling rifts of colors multitude spanning hundreds of meters in diameter opened up moving across the sky like a storm would roll over an open field. Out of the rifts dropped monsters of varying shapes and sizes - undead zombies wearing armour of ornate design, wolves that reminded Ainz of a barghest without the chains and large wasp-like monsters that descended in hordes numbering in the hundreds if not thousands.

"_So this is a wave..."_ he thought, watching from Raphtalia's perspective as they ran back to the village, Rifana hand in hand. The two spoke before hugging each other and splitting up, running in opposite directions.

Raphtalia quickly moved to what Ainz could only assume to be her house. It was plain and unassuming on the outside but the Overlord paused the memory upon seeing the inside, it resembled that of a low noble's house - completely different from that of a normal peasant - unsure of what that implied, he moved on.

The girl ran through all the rooms of the deceptive house looking for her parents, she found them staring out upon the village as its occupants desperately tried to fend off the monsters of the wave.

Her father and mother kneeled down in relief and embraced their daughter tightly just before a large crash broke them apart. Something had fallen on their house, crashing through the living room not five meters from their current location.

All three of them looked at the monster and flinched in fear. Towering over them at three meters tall the monster poked a head over the dividing wall that seperated the rooms, then another and another, all three heads focused on them with three sets of eyes, malice burning like inconfinable flames. The girl's father broke from his momentarily stunned state and quickly refocused on trying to keep his family safe, smashing the window closest to him with his bare fist while dragging them through.

Ainz ended the memory there, he knew what was about to happen so he saw no reason to continue, his mana had just passed the thirty-five percent mark and he still had another memory to see.

He had no idea what he was looking for, Raphtalia had not given him a description of the woman so he skimmed back and forth through the girl's memories until he found someone that stood out.

He continued to scroll through memories with an almost carefree attitude until, suddenly he stopped on a memory that took place a day before the wave finding someone that definitely stood out. Standing atop the seaside cliff with Raphtalia by their side, surrounded by both children and adults alike was a woman unlike anyone he had seen in this world so far.

She was beautiful, that fact was beyond undeniable, a mature kind of beauty comparable to the likes of Yuri Alpha. On top of that she dressed in a way that left nothing to the imagination but even so, he suspected that her choice of outfit meant something perhaps religious in nature, another point of curiosity were the navy blue markings that flowed up her body like water, hugging every curve as if to accentuate them; starting at the base of her heels and stopping just under her chin.

In the woman's hand was a weapon slightly taller than herself, if Ainz was to describe it to someone he would say it was somewhere in between a spear and maybe a harpoon or trident, it displayed features of all three.

"Sadeena?" Raphtalia tugged at the silk white cloth that hung from the hips of the woman, in response she knelt down and looked directly into Raphtalias eyes.

"What is it little Raphtalia?" She asked, gently smiling while petting the top of the tanuki girls head.

"You know, you don't have to go, we still have plenty left."

"Oh... I know, but it's better I go do it now while we still have supplies left, I thought you would have learned that by now."

"Mmmm." She hummed, pouting childishly.

Sadeena chuckled, smiling as she stood up, turning around to face the mass of villagers that had gathered to see her off. "Well I'll be seeing you guys in a week or so try not to get up to anything while I'm away."

"Don't worry we won't, just make sure you come back to us safely." stated Raphatalia's father.

"Right, will do." she said, giving a smug salute as she fell backwards over the cliff.

Raphtalia looked over the edge to see the rippling water of the place her friend had dropped into. There was another large splash of seawater, then a black fin and soon after a tail then the full head of a… whale

"See you soon Sadeena!" The girl exclaimed, waving her hand back and forth happily, the rest of the villagers following suite.

"_I'm so confused." _The Overlord stated in thought, ending the memory there, returning back to the real world with more questions than answers and barely fifteen percent of his mana left.

"_Was she some aquatic form of a lycanthrope or was it simply a part of her race? But that would make her a heteromorph… Hmmm it might be worth talking to Beloukas about it." _

Ainz angled his head upwards to look at the girl soundly sleeping on the bed, "Thank you." he stated softly, changing the item attached to his wrist to the {Rejuvenation Shield}. This was the equip effect he received from sacrificing the used [Wand of Resurrection].

Though to call it a shield would be a stretch, it was more like a large intricately decorated goblet made of gold and silver. After admiring it for a moment - having not seen it before - he pointed his arm towards the girl and commanded it to {Light Heal}. The shield surrounded itself in a gold hue that began to gather inside the sizable cup section and after a second the light drained out and moved up his gauntlet discharging towards the girl in a quick burst.

The girl grunted lightly as the golden light surrounded her and seemed to move inside her. He watched excitedly as the girls health bar rose quickly and unexpectedly kept going, changing the red bar to that of a golden colour.

"It over healed her!" He exclaimed in genuine excitement but that emotion was quickly cut off by his suppressor.

"Hahh." he sighed. "_This is surprising, though I guess it is to be expected from a world item, normally only [Hygieia's chalice] would be capable of something like this but since it only seems to apply to a single low level target it's somewhat balanced… somewhat."_

That lead to another question, could it heal him?

The item he sacrificed to the shield was of the holy element and as an undead could hurt if not kill him should he attempt to use it on himself.

The Overlord looked at the shield, wondering just what it was capable of and how far he could push its power… following that line of internal questioning how far could he push himself with it, just how far could he go, could he become stronger than a Raid Boss or even a World Enemy, could even gain their exclusive spells and abilities.

Theoretically he could if the shards worked like they said they did, the war mage job class was an example of this working in real time

As much as he wanted to answer those questions, the answers meant nothing if Nazarick and his family were not there with him...

…

"My apologies for the wait, it took longer to calm her down than I thought." he explained to the shadow, noticing that they were sitting comfortably on the black leathered couch in a manner that gave nothing away. They're clearly very well trained.

"It was no issue, this item you created is rather comfortable, I dare say I even enjoyed it."

"I see, then I hope you won't mind if I make my own."

"Please by all means." The shadow gestured in a manner that said 'go ahead'.

"Much appreciated." He gave voice in thanks, nodding his head and pointing towards the empty patch of dirt in opposition to and casting [Silent: Create Greater Item] creating a double wide chair of the same appearance to the one the shadow sat on.

"I believe we were discussing the church? Ainz asked, taking a seat.

"Yes." They replied.

"Do you know what they have planned?"

"Not currently, no. They seem to have put any plans they had on hold for the moment as they were not expecting someone like you to become the shield hero."

"Someone like me?" He asked, looking directly into the shadows eye's.

"My apologies if I have offended you. I meant your power, you far outclass any hero that has previously been summoned at the time of summoning and your lack of empathy - as we stated before - was… disconcerting to say the least."

"I see that is an interesting curiosity but why do you think that to be the case, from what you have told me I can only ascertain that every other shield hero was like the Sword, Bow and Spear heroes summoned this time round."

"Despite my line of work, that is a question I do not have an answer to."

"_Did they just make a joke?" _

"Umu… very well, if you don't mind I'd like to circle back around to why you were her in the first place."

"Understood." they nodded. "First we would like to reiterate that Her majesty had nothing to do with your framing. In fact to say she was rather disappointed in learning of the events that transpired would be an understatement. Lord Aultcray was acting in opposition of her Majesty's orders; those being to treat you well - he was never meant to be in control.

Her Majesty had placed a noble she trusted implicitly on the throne temporarily while she seeked the aid of other countries to discuss the summoning of you heroes; unfortunately this noble perished while fending off the first wave."

"That is rather convenient. Don't you think?" he asked incredulously

"That is how it looks to be true, but an investigation was conducted into his death and we found that he died fighting the wave boss after it tore through his torso; his death was caused by blood loss."

"I see and this "wave boss" as you called it, was it a large beast with three heads?"

"Yes, it was. How did you-"

"Know about it? The girl told me, it plagues her nightmares, she relives the wave over and over again each night. I'm sure you understand what that must be like."

"That explains her nervous personality and timid nature."

"Yes." he nodded. "And while I have questions as to where this nobles' guards were or if they even existed in the first place, I don't really care." Ainz explained.

_"To be expected."_ The shadow thought.

"As to your first inquiry, the people responsible for causing this incident are to my knowledge still suffering for their actions; the people of this country are safe from me. No, it is mainly the leadership I take issue with. Thus far they have shone nothing but incompetents." Once he finished his criticism he casted a [Silent: Time Stop]. The world came to a greyed out stand still along with the shadow in front of him, confirming at least that they did not have any resistance to temporal magic.

[Message]

("Hanzo where are you currently?")

("Close by my lord, we have finished our tasks, do you require something else of this one?")

("Yes") he replied.

("I have another job for you, I am currently sitting across from a shadow I am unsure of their detection abilities so I would like for you to personally enter their… shadow and map their intelligence network until you find the head, once you do so, leave a few demons with them and return to me and report.")

("At once my lord!") the hanzo exclaimed in confirmation.

"I… please allow us to apologize on behalf of-"

"Stop." He ordered holding his hand up. "Are you somehow the cause for their actions?"

"Not entirely…" They replied

"Then don't be accountable for them. They took me from my world without any form of consent to save something I care nothing for, and then falsely accused me of sexual assault; as I'm sure you can understand I fully expect those responsible for such a brainless act to be punished serverly. Does her Majesty wish to be included into that?"

"No, she wouldn't."

"I see and now that you have confirmed my intentions, is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"No, not currently." they said standing up and looking at Ainz who had done the same. "Her majesty and I would like to thank you for your time and once again apologise for how you have been treated." they bowed politely.

"I as well thank you for your time and her majesties concern, this meeting has been very insightful, I look forward to meeting her in person once she returns

"As does she, I'm sure."

Ainz nodded. "Good, now that business is concluded I'd ask you please stop spying on me. It's not that you are ineffective at it, it's that if the one that is being spied on knows they're being spied on... well it makes the effectiveness of the spy drop dramatically, as I'm sure you can understand."

"Un-Understood Sir shield hero, I will make note of it for future reference." they stated, their diplomatic tone filtering momentarily in confusion unsure of whether or not to take his words as a compliment or an insult. Instead of trying to figure it out they gave a curt bow and simply said "farewell", leaving in a cloud of white smoke.

As he watched the shadow disappear into the night towards that of the castle wall he sent a message to the hanzo. ("Did you get in?")

("Yes! We did my lord. But they seem to perceive my existence and are acting erratically in what this one believes to be an attempt to shake us off, We will take extra steps to conceal ourself at once.")

("Please do.") Ainz replied, ending the message there.

The Overlord sighed to himself and dispelled the two unnecessary items behind him. "_It seems tomorrow will be a busy day." _

* * *

**Well that's it for now… it took me far too long to write because i was worried about how to handle the discussion between the shadow and Ainz, it was even a bit longer but it was getting to the point of ainz just releasing important information and that's not what Ainz is. then even after that the retelling of raphtalias story was… well it wasn't how i wanted it to come out but its all i had.**

**Also I've been thinking about this for a sometime and while I do want to add Filo to the group I'm kind of stuck on her character. Because of Ainz being what he is I think her personality would change entirely and so it would only be filo in name. My question is do i add filo who will only be filo in name or make an entirely different OC or just not bother at all. **

**Please leave a review. I really do want to know what you think even if its only a single word.**


	6. Chapter 6

…

Right so... long time no see it's been a while. Where have I been some of you may ask? That's simple, I've been suffering through what is commonly known as writer's block, it is a terrible disease of the mind that affects writers all over the world resulting in the deaths of stories everywhere.

Alright jokes over, I'm back and with a vengeance. I wanted to have a chapter out on the 27th of August but that thing mentioned above prevented me from doing so. I almost ended up skipping to the wave (which I've had written since I released chapter 3) leaving any development of Ainz and Raphtalia' relationship in the dust; I didn't want to do that.

This is the chapter where we are going to start diverting from cannon, I'm going to warn you now some things may change, others will stay the same. It will change though.

One last thing before you start. I have - as some of you may have noticed - put the tag (active story) in the summary, as long as that is there, this story is not dead.

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

A few days had passed since Ainz' meeting with the shadow. When he wasn't in combat, or studying the growth of his companion, he was thinking about the wave and how to handle it. He had gone through that particular memory several times in his head already, trying to glean any information he could from it and come up with strategies and ways to handle them.

He wanted to level up quickly; that was his main motivation right now besides going home, the latter beginning to feel like a long term goal - frustratingly, he could no longer open a gate to his world. He had theories as to what could have changed but they were just that, theories - and the wave seemed like the best opportunity to level up almost as if it was offered to him on a silver platter for his own indulgence.

After a long time contemplating, there were two ways he could handle it. One was the cautious route; playing the _hero_ he was supposed to be, using the shield, it's abilities and his spells to kill groups of monsters at a time... but this approach would put the people he was supposed to save in unreasonable danger. That, and he'd already blown any chance of using this option long ago, as a result of the vermilion nova he had cast in spite.

That, and the other three heros are likely to head straight to the wave boss, assuming that the prior knowledge of the games they played truly matched up with this world. If it did, it may be worth trying to re-establish a working relationship with one of them, but that's likely not going to happen.

That left the other option... which was probably the more realistic route, was to go all in. Of course, this had its own downfalls, one of which would be announcing himself to the world as a player… something that he had not taken lightly when deciding. He hadn't discovered any signs of their existence in this world yet, but even so it wasn't impossible. After all, this was his second time being transported to another world. What's there to say it hadn't happened to another?

Then, there were a few events he could think of that would take place after the wave.

He would probably be called for an audience with the king, something he was actually looking forward to. After that would be the Church; one of two things would happen. Either they would be dissuaded from going after him, or, they would double down and react more aggressively towards him. The upside to this, though, was that he would no longer need to worry about their schemes.

Next, he would gain recognition or infamy from the countries surrounding Melromarc. Whether this was a good or a bad thing, he was uncertain, but it may lead to other interesting developments.

But the most apparent factor and the thing that reinforced his decision was that he would likely be able to gain incredible amounts of experience and levels for himself and the girl. Of course there was a risk that the monsters of the wave gave no xp upon death, a concern that he would have to keep at the back of his mind for when the time came...

Suddenly the sound of petering feet on cold stone filled the room, disturbing Ainz from his inner thoughts. Turning slightly from his seat, he gazed upon the source and chuckled lightly at their appearance. He probably shouldn't have laughed at her considering that he may have inadvertently caused her current look, after the advice he had given her the night before.

_"Have you tried fighting the nightmares?"_

Her brown hair could be described as an extreme case of bedhead, as if to match the aesthetic of her hair's look, noticeable bags appeared under her eyes.

"Raphtalia, sleep well?" the Overlord asked as she sat down on the couch across from him.

"No…" she grumbled out, dropping her head on the opposing cushion.

"I see. Well, I'll give you some time to wake up before we move out. Today, I want to go into town to conduct some business and gather information. After that, we will be going to a village north of here."

"Mhmm," she mumbled drowsily through the cushion. Ainz took a moment to observe the girl, amazed at how quickly she had grown. For every level after 10 she had started to grow, now her appearance matched her level;15.

The magic iron armor plate that covered her chest had risen slightly as the young figure of a woman became more apparent and the armor, while still loose, was not as loose as it used to be.

"Ready to go?" the Overlord asked.

All the girl did was grumble and wave her hand lazily.

...

When the two finally began moving, half an hour had passed. Instead of teleporting straight into the city, he had chosen to walk, killing monsters and collecting their drops as they went.

Once they reached the city walls - after leaving a trail of dead monsters in their wake - Ainz asked her to take hold of his hand, she hesitated for a moment but did so.

"Are you afraid of heights?" He asked, looking into her bright pink eyes.

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "My village was near the ocean, so sometimes we would jump off the cliff into the water, even when Sadeea wasn't there to watch us. Why?"

"You'll see. [Mass Invisibility] [Mass Fly]," weightlessness overcame Raphtalia as she began to float a few inches off the ground.

Her gaze snapped downwards, and she gasped. She looked up at Ainz. '"Wha... what?" she murmured

"Can you still see me?" The Overlord inquired

"Yes, but you're kind of fuzzy," she replied.

"I see, then it's working like it used to…"

"Like what used to?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Just something from a long time ago, you don't need to worry. Now, you have gotten better at using [Message] so I'd like to see how you handle this spell. You should find it easy to control. Just think about what you want to happen," without saying another word, he let go of her hand and flew upward. He stopped just high enough that he was in line with the windows of the castle's throne room, looking down at her watching.

"Hm..." she pouted looking up at him. "_I don't like how he doesn't tell me anything, doesn't he trust me?" _

After a few failed attempts to move left and right, she learned that the way in which she leaned her body dictated the direction she moved in. She then attempted to fly upwards, only to find that she bobbed on the spot. When that failed she next tried to jump in the air, evidently finding that didn't work either.

Then, finally after what felt like several embarrassing minutes of looking like a fish out of water she gave in and just shouted "I want to go up!"

All of a sudden she felt like the entire world's atmosphere was crashing down on top of her shoulders as the stone wall below got smaller and smaller. Panic began to fill her mind as the image of her teacher - who was looking up at her - got smaller and smaller.

"Stop!" she screamed out into the thinning air, she slammed to a halt, her hair flinging forward. She took a moment to catch her breath and reached for the pendent hanging around her neck ready to send a message for help, but stopped before making contact.

"_He's testing me, I need to figure this out on my own." _she thought, closing her eyes and taking another deep breath.

Once she opened them again she took a moment to look around. It was a clear, sunny day, without a single cloud in the sky. Whether it was the horizon, Lute Village she had been to the day prior, or the castle town, everything seemed so close, yet so far away.

"I can see the edge of the world…" she mumbled as her eyes went wide in wonder. For the first time in what felt like years, she felt truly free.

She breathed in deeply, and uttered; "Down, slowly," there was a brief pause, then she slowly fell towards the earth. Unlike last time the speed at which the spell moved, this time it was... almost relaxing.

"I don't want to do that again." she stated after coming to a stop next to her teacher.

"I see, that is unfortunate. Then it seems you will be staying behind, today."

"What? Why?" she slumped her shoulders.

"Because we will be using this spell as our primary source of travel from now on; with a few exceptions. I simply wished to see if you were capable of using it properly."

"Can't we just teleport to locations like we did to Lute yesterday?" She inquired in a disbelieving tone.

Ainz looked at her with a raised brow. _"She's normally not this forward."_ he thought as he began to explain. "That's not possible. For me to teleport to a location I would have to have been there before, or have seen an image of it."

"But Lute, we haven't been there before?" She questioned, frowning.

Ainz sighed. "I was in this world for three days before I met you. I mostly spent that time familiarising myself with the local area and people, as well as infrequently leveling up."

"I see." she muttered, slumping her head slightly.

"Shall we go?" He asked.

"Um, just a quick question. You would have saved me right? If I couldn't control it, I mean?"

"Yes,." he nodded, "If you went too far up, I would have stopped you."

"How?" She asked, glaring at him. If he needed to know the location he was teleporting to, how would he save her?

Ainz didn't say anything, he simply held out his arm and slowly waved it from side to side. As he did so, she felt her body moving back and forth in the slight wind, following its movement's.

"Y-you could have stopped me?!" The girl exclaimed, as she continued to follow his movements.

"Yes," he replied flatly, "Like I said, I wanted to see how you would handle it. All things considered, you did well…"

"Well. I'm Glad. I Passed. Your test." she huffed, crossing her arms and spinning away from him, her eyes squeezed shut.

"As am I," he returned with a hint of amusement.

"Hmph!"

"Follow me down, when you are ready," he announced, releasing his own control of the spell. He began to accelerate downward, towards the earth. Raphtalia's eyes snapped open and she stared down after him, her mouth open.

There was a theory Ainz wanted to test. Whether this was from player intervention in the distant past with the aid of a world item, or the magic of the ancient Dragon Lords, In his world the term "_fall damage"_ did not exist… you could be a level 1 child, or a level 100 player, and you would still take no damage from leaping off of the tallest cliff in the world, landing with nothing but a ruffling of cloth and a crater in the earth to acknowledge what you had just done.

The moment before he landed, Ainz cast [Silence]. Upon landing, not so much as a peep was heard even as the cracks in the pavement began to spread out from the large indented bootprints.

"Nothing," he remarked, closely scrutinizing his HP bar, it hadn't moved so much as millimetre.

_"Is it because of my body's durability, or because this world's laws are similar to mine. Perhaps I should test it with someone else… if only I hadn't turned them all into death knights."_

"Um… why did you do that?" Raphtalia asked as she lightly touched down.

"I wanted to test something, that's all."

"Won't we get in trouble later?" she inquired, looking at the small crater.

"Umu, probably," he shrugged. "But if need be, I can fix it later," he began walking towards the main street . "Are you hungry?"

"Umu, probably," she teased, following not far behind him.

Just before they were about to turn the corner, Ainz looked over his shoulder and said firmy "Don't do that."

She giggled. Not long after they turned into the main street, they were stopping again, this time at a shady looking shop hidden away in a back alley.

"Um, Suzuki, what are we doing here? I thought we were getting food?"

"We are, but I thought it prudent to acquire some additional funds, first."

"Oh… I see, but ah, why are we here then?" She asked, with a curious expression.

"This man trades monster parts for coin, and from what information I have gathered, has some of the best exchange rates in the city," Ainz replied, fully knowing that the greying man on the other side of the counter was listening to their conversation.

The man looked directly at them with scowl, not the interested one Ainz would expect to find on your typical merchant. "You need to leave, _shield hero_. I'm not supposed to even be talking with you, let alone doing business with you - king's orders and all that, I'm afraid." The man explained quickly.

"I see… why if I may ask?" Ainz inquired.

The man huffed, closed his eyes and turned his body slightly. Clearly refusing to answer, the Overlord lost interest beginning to move on to another shop.

"Wait a moment!" the merchant called after them.

Ainz stopped and turned his head back to the shop owner, thinking that the man may have reconsidered. Unfortunately... "Normally I _would_ conduct trade with you, god knows I need it, but I will have to be content with the hope that once this mess with the princess is over - when her Majesty returns - that you'll trade with me again. For now let me tell you that I am not the only one you will not be able to do business with, all of Melromarc is barred from conducting business with you."

"There was a lot of information in that speech. I hope you can explain some of it?"

The elder trader stuck his head over the counter, timidly looking left and right down the abandoned alley. Once he confirmed that no one was there, he beckoned them to come closer. "You didn't hear this from me, but there are some new rumors going around that you were framed for _what you did,_ and punished the King and Princess for it; that explosion was apparently part of it."

"You have my thanks, merchant," Ainz replied. The Overlord stood up straight, and reached behind his red cape to hide the fact he reached into his inventory. A moment later, he pulled out a single silver coin from his kingdom, and placed it on the counter. The man reached for it, eyes going wide as he noticed the sheen and artistry of it. "For your trouble."

The trader gave a cautious nod and tucked it into a loosely stitched pocket on the side of his worn cloth pants, leaving the shield hero to his own devices while he went back to sorting the materials behind him.

...

"_It seems as though the Shadows have been busy. Perhaps they are attempting to gain further favor with me, if this is what they are able to do in three days it may just work." _the Overlord thought as a familiar tent entered his view.

To his right walked the girl he had acquired a few days before, a worried expression firmly planted on her face. Cautious of the place they were heading to. She knew he wasn't going to return her to this place after the way he had treated her, she would have ran if that was the case but even so she still had a sick feeling surging at the base of her gut likely from coming back here so soon after leaving.

"Um, Sir, what are we doing back here? Are you getting another slave?"

"No." he replied firmly. "The king has made things difficult for me. Normally I would not suffer through such tactics but after what that trader told me I've decided to lay low - _for now -_ and give the king and the church no more chances to ruin my image any further, instead I will work through a proxy."

"Oh… is that a good idea?" she asked with concern looking at the pavilion ahead, remembering the personality of the pudgy man.

"He's the only one I can entrust with a task like this one, his lust for coin makes him rather predictable so I intended to make a deal with him."

"Hmmm, this won't end well…" she hummed wryly.

Before they even reached the entrance of the massive tent, the slave trader was standing there with an ear to ear grin on his face as if waiting for them to arrive.

"You were expecting us?" the Overlord asked with an unseen raised brow.

"Oh, yes indeed, Sir," he chuckled. "Given current happenings I expected you eventually. Just not so soon, imagine, my _surprise_."

"I'm sure. Then, shall we move inside. I'd like to keep this confidential."

"Indeed!" the slaver exclaimed. His impossible, greedy smile somehow got wider as he spun around on the edge of his heel and walked back inside with his new business opportunities following not far behind.

Once they reached the smaller tent inside, Ainz was immediately beset with a question. "So dear Sir, what service may I provide you with today? Perhaps another slave?"

"No. A partnership if you will, I require a proxy to conduct transactions in lue of myself; The resale of monster goods and wares, that kind of thing."

"Oh, consider me intrigued…" Beloukas exclaimed coyly then suddenly took on a depressive atmosphere, that Ainz found to be more than fake "...but, as I'm sure you already know, the King's recent proclamation to traders operating in Melromarc prevents me from doing business with your illustrious self. This partnership will be quite hazardous to my business-"

"Stop." the Overlord spat, looking straight into the pudgy man's eyes.

"What?" the slaver exclaimed in surprise, not expecting the declaration at all.

"I am not one who 'beats around the bush' so to speak, I prefer to get straight to the point, whether it's politics or business, as such I can assume you were going to explain that dealing with me would put you at risk; you would have likely started somewhere around twenty-five to thirty percent with the expectation that I would work you down. So how much do you want? Be reasonable."

"I see…" the trader retorted with a disappointed sigh. "Well, I suppose that's one way to take the fun out of it." Beloukas grumbled. "How does twenty percent sound?" he inquired as he made his way over to one of the draws that surrounded them and pulled out a length of white parchment and an ink pen with some kind of gem or crystal inlaid within its shaft. The pen was in a word fat, as to accommodate the crystal, but not so much as to make it look uncomfortable.

He then moved over to his desk on the opposite side, gesturing for Raphtalia to move aside and grabbed a small ink pot before making his way back to the parchment on the centre table.

Ainz watched patiently as the small man started writing down what looked to be a contract with lines for what was assumed to be details added later. The Overlord found it odd that for some reason he did this with the generic feather quill that came with the ink pot and not the expensive looking ink pen he had gotten out earlier.

Once he was done, Beloukas dropped the quill to the side and picked up the pen, then looked at Ainz.

"Duration of contact and condition?" he asked as he placed his thumb on top of the crystal that started to grow a faint blue.

_"That looks like a… no it can't be?"_ "Ah before you start, may I have a look at the pen you are holding?"

"I suppose it can't hurt. But Sir, please be careful it is a rather expensive item that is very hard to replace."

"I see, what is it used for?" The Overlord asked, taking the pen carefully from the man's hands.

"It is a mana channeling pen that is used in the creation of binding contracts. Traders such as myself use them to make deals that could last year's, which is why they are hardly brought out."

"And the crystal inside the pen; what are its properties?"

The man's face flattened. "Sir, the gem channel's mana, it can be used to enchant or even make materials; thread, metals or in this case ink."

_"Did I ask something I shouldn't have? No matter."_

"So it couldn't be used to say seal a spell inside to be released later?"

"Oh, my apologies I thought you were being dull… to my knowledge I do not think that has ever been attempted with this kind of crystal, you would need to speak with a jeweler who specialises in accessory creation, not my speciality I'm afraid."

"Hmm, I see. Then do you know how I may get into contact with one of these jeweler's and if possible someone who is acquainted with this type of gem?

"I do, but I'm afraid to say he is out of town at the moment, though if you allow me, say three days. I should be able to organise something."

Ainz nodded. "Very well, but we should make it four days and meet some time in the early morning in case we need to travel."

"Very good Sir," the small man exclaimed with a teeth-baring grin. "Shall we get back to the object at hand?"

"Yes." the Overlord nodded, handing the pen back to Baloukas.

"Duration of contact?" He asked, putting pen to paper.

"Unspecified or until we both mutually agree on termination?"

"That is very fair of you Sir. Would you like me to read it to you once I am done?"

Ainz gave a simple nod and watched closely as the ink dipped pen made contact with the parchment below.

Every word placed into the missing segment glowed a light blue similarly to the crystal before fading into appearance with the normal ink.

"Sir, Could I ask you to print your name here, here and here?" The pudgy man asked after reading the agreement in its entirety

"Hmm, this may be difficult. I do not know this world's written language."

_"And I don't think it's possible for me to Chanel pure mana, I would require a priest class like Pestonya; that's not something I can do at the moment. Maybe [Negative touch] could work… it's technically a form of mana."_

"Oh, there is no need to worry about that dear Sir. You use the language of the hero's do you not? I believe that will work as long as you believe that to be your name."

"Oddly specific words..."Ainz looked at the man with a raised brow. "That should be fine, but could I ask you both to leave until I am done."

"Why?" Raphtalia asked, surprised.

"Whatever for?" Inquired the slaver with a suspicious scoul.

"A personal reason, one I do not wish to discuss at this time. It will only take a moment, I will call you once I'm done."

"Very well… this way girl." Beloukas stated, walking through the curtain door and out of sight.

Raphtalia stood still for a moment, looking at Ainz before she turned and followed the small man.

Left alone Ainz reached to his right gauntlet and twisted. With an audible "chink" he pulled the entire gauntlet off revealing his skeletal arm.

He placed the gauntlet on the table and picked up the pen and began to use [negative touch].

The gem glowed in a deep purple and began to almost scream. Not knowing if it was due to the negative energy or the amount of mana being pumped through it, he tried to reduce the flow somewhat.

After a few seconds the howling of the gem died down into a low hum that was still loud enough to hear. Finally he put pen to paper and each stroke of his name "Momonga" in kanji glowed a deep purple that did not fade.

"_Hmm, I half expected it to rot, the paper must be enchanted as well." _He mused, finishing the last signature.

"You may come back in now." the overlord stated grabbing his gauntlet and quickly locking it back into place.

"No complications I hope?" Beloukas inquired as he made his way inside with Raphtalia.

"None that I could perceive. Though this gem's mana capacity is lower than I expected… I assume its strength is determined by its size?"

"Yes, that is correct. Now," he clapped his gloved hands together and walked past Ainz. "Let's see if everything is in order." Taking a moment to confirm that everything was properly signed and in order, he rolled the parchment carefully and placed it safely into the lock box hidden under the centre table, after which Beloukas smiled widely and clapped his hands twice in an elegant manner.

From the far sides of the massive tent, two cloaked individuals appeared - saying nothing to either Ainz and Raphtalia as they passed them - quickly standing before the slaver in a stiff manner.

"Yes Master?" They queried simultaneously.

The pudgy trader looked up to Ainz expectationaly. Acknowledging the man's unsaid request Ainz once again reached behind his back, into his inventory and pulled out a small unassuming leather pouch he then placed on the wooden counter. The man looked at the pouch and then back to the giant in armor with an expression that seemed to ask "_Seriously, is that all?"_

Ainz sighed and began to explain. "Despite appearances, that bag can hold five hundred kilograms of items; it's completely full…" he looked at the cloaked assistants. "When you empty it, make sure you do it slowly or it will all come out at once; It will get messy very quickly.

"In that case…" the trader mumbled and looked to his assistants. "Get the wagon."

There was not a single moment of hesitation as the two politely bowed and sped out of the small tent, separating to get everything that was needed.

"I have another request."

"Oh?" The slaver hummed with a smile.

"Do not get too excited, it will not bring you any monetary gain." To this the man seemed to deflate.

"Very well. What is it?" He asked with a disappointed tone.

"While your… minions are out I'd like them to get a cooked meal for-"

"Me! I'm sick of eating fish…" Raphtalia blurted out.

"Well then, I will order them to pick something up on the way back. If that is to your liking Sir?"

Ainz gave a slight nod in response while the girls' bushy brown tail began to wag back and forth happily at the prospect of eating something other than flame roasted fish.

"Alright, then perhaps while we wait, can I interest you in something that may appeal to one such as yourself Sir?"

"Perhaps, it depends on what it happens to be."

"I suppose it does," the man replied with a chuckle. "Just a moment." He continued, making his way around the central table to a wooden box laying in the corner.

"This is what is called a monster egg lottery. For just a hundred silvers you're guaranteed to get at least a filolial; a monster chick that will double in value if properly taken care of."

"A filolial? I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Yes, you must have seen them; those big birds that pull carriages aroun- wait, come to think of it I don't think I've seen one since I left this place a few days ago." said Raphtalia with a thoughtful expression.

"Indeed. The day the heroes were summoned, there was a mass exodus of domesticated filolial's from the city. According to reports I've been privy to, the flock doesn't want to come anywhere near the city."

"_Hmm, I wonder if thats my fault…_ How has it affected business, personally?"

"Very little, when my filolial ran off I simply used one of the horses I had on hand. The rest of the city had some issues adapting but otherwise nothing much changed, mostly using horses and dragons, with slave labour filling in the rest." said the slaver with a greedy, prideful smile.

"I see. And these dragons, I can assume they are not a true dragon; wings, four legs, breathes fire or some other element and can talk? Just some big lizard?"

The slaver chuckled lightly then began to explain with an amused tone "That would be funny to watch if they were. Thankfully it is the latter, what you refer to as a "true dragon" is what we of this world call "Pure bloods" or "Dragon Emperor" if you're more inclined to boost their ego."

"Oh! My father told me about a guardian dragon that kept watch over the area where he grew up." Raphtalia chimed in.

Ainz gave a nod to the girl, he would tuck that information away for later. "It seems they are just as arrogant as the ones I am familiar with. Do you know what power they hold and what their general personality is like?" "_I don't want to fight another Platinum Dragon Lord if I can help it." He_ added in thought.

"In terms of power… I can't say, I've never personally met one. However, I hear they are rather well mannered and tend to keep to themselves except when in heat, as you might expect." the small man chuckled.

"Typical. I will have to decline the offer for now." Ainz replied flatly.

"Are you sure? only a hundred silver, if raised well it could get you up twenty gold pieces were you to sell it."

"The answer has not changed, perhaps another time. Besides, even if I wanted one I don't have one hundred silver."

"Now that is a predicament… then, why not use one of the favours I owe you?"

"From the coins? Not a chance. I'm saving those for another time when they are worth using."

"How wise of you… then perhaps after you receive your share?"

"What is it you really want? Why do you want me to take one." Asked Ainz incredulously, looking down into the greedy man's eyes.

"More coin, my dear Sir." Beloukas replied looking back up with a wide smile.

"Hmph, liar." Ainz huffed looking down at the little man, his eyes glowing a faint red as a bit of tension hung between them.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt you two but they're back." Raphtalia stated, interrupting the two's staring contest.

"Yes Master, it is as the girl says, we have returned and are ready for our next task." The masked assistant exclaimed, stiffly standing to the side of the girl.

"Alright! Let's get this started." the small man clapped and walked past Ainz.

* * *

No this isn't all, I'm planning on releasing another chapter next week and another in the week after that with a possible 4th in the week after that (no promises), with the 4th finally covering the wave! I know it's not what some of you wanted after such a long wait, but I thought it would be better than releasing a nearly 60 page 25k word chapter all at once, it would get pretty tiresome for some people to read. That, and I need time to finish 3 and rewrite 4.

In the next chapter we will be finishing up Ainz' wager with Erhard and what consequences may have come from giving prismatic ore to a blacksmith who was Ill equipped to handle such a metal and just what it took to forge it.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review and a follow.

I'll see you in the next one!


	7. Chapter 7

**Well here is part two of three! Im happy to see that people are still interested in this story despite the long wait, so thanks for that! This part is the smallest of the three, unfortunately given part 3s size and my own laziness I'm delaying 3 and 4 until they're finished, which shouldn't be too long, I hope.**

**Enjoy the chapter! **

**I don't own the **_**Overlord**_**(****オーバーロード**_**Ōbārōdo**_**?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.**

**I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (**_**Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari**_**) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi**_**.**_

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Melromarch, castle town**

In the dark, early hours of the morning, the party of two - under the effects of [Mass invisibility] - found themselves walking through Melromarch's castle town, heading to their current objective: a relatively well known blacksmiths shop.

"Do you think he finished it in time?" Asked the beautiful tanuki girl beside him with a curious smile.

"I hope not, it will mean I owe him a lot of money..." the Overlord replied as he continued walking, not bothering to turn to the conversation.

"But we have a lot of money now, can't we spare a little?" She replied with a wry smile.

"Just because we have the money does not mean I want to spend it."

"Then why make a bet in the first place?"

Ainz said nothing more and kept silently walking, leaving the girl with a small, teasing smile as she walked beside him.

When they reached the front of the shop, Ainz stopped and turned to the girl. "I needed to incentivise him. That metal is from my world and is very rare; its properties make it extremely resistant to heat which in turn makes it very hard to forge. I once gave something similar to a dwarf known for being the best blacksmith in the region. Do you want to know what happened to him?"

"What?" She asked the obvious, a little surprised by his question.

"He abandoned his post, taking the ingots I gave him and ran away. Years later, some subordinates of mine found him, mad and raving about how cold it was as the ingots sat in his hand."

"What happened to him? The dwarf?"

"When my subordinate took them out of his hands he attacked them and died not long after."

"Oh, that's... sad." She stated, slumping her shoulders and looking down.

"It was, his Family mourned his loss and the Dwarven nation lost a great Smith."

"And how did you feel about it?"

"Nothing, but pity, mostly. I lost the ability to feel strong emotions long ago." Ainz replied flatly, opening the door of the shop and stepping inside.

"So did you give them to Erhard knowing he would go mad too?" The girl asked with a worried voice, following him in.

"Initially, no. Any worry I had of him suffering the same fate as the dwarve left when he was able to heat the ingots. It meant he met the prerequisites to work the metal." Said Ainz as he dispelled the invisibility.

"Awe, it's great to know you had so much faith in me." The tall man stated with a sarcastic tone, standing behind the wooden counter at the other end of the room.

"Were you able to complete it?" The girl asked with a bright smile, quickly moving past Ainz.

"I was…" the blacksmith nodded, crossing his arms in a displeased fashion. "But it cost me more than I felt it was worth."

"How so?" Asked the Overlord, walking closer to the counter.

"Where do I even start... First, I had to hire a set of flame and wind mages to even be able to create a flame with enough heat to get the damn things hot and malleable. Then take into account their rates, and the fact that my magically enchanted forge started to melt in the process; I'm sure you can see why it cost so much!"

"_Why do I suddenly feel like I've just driven myself into economical ruin?"_ "My apologies for your loss, may I see it?"

"Suzuki, don't be so insensitive." The girl exclaimed with a commanding tone.

"Don't worry about it kid, I was just letting off a bit of steam." Erhard said, relaxing and waving the concern away. He bent down slightly and picked up an item hidden behind a white sheet and placed it down on the flat of the counter. "You know, despite what I said, I'm happy I got to work on this. It's not everyday you get to work with metal from another world."

Ainz nodded. "So, what else did you do to it? I'm sure you didn't just leave it as a piece of metal."

"I'm glad you asked! Because this metal was so strong I was able to place a large number of enhancements on it. Wanna take a look?"

"Of course." The Overlord nodded, uncovering the shield and picking it up with his left hand. "Is it lighter than I expected?"

"Yes, I'll get to that in a minute… as you can see I did as you asked and made its design similar to your armor, specifically your pauldrons, it's dual layered scale design allowed me to add sharp edge to the overhang like a shavers blade; it's sharp enough to cleanly go through lightly armored targets and should be able to cut through most monster hides."

"That's an odd design for a shield…" the girl commented.

"Yeah I know, but I was inspired and couldn't help it."

"Next?" asked Ainz.

"Next are the enchantments. I'll let you appraise it in your own time, for now I'll name the most apparent ones. First I've added {Air Wake} to reduce its weight considerably. The second enchantment is {Growing Power}, it increases the stats of the item in proportion to the stats of the wielder's opponent, to a point. Last but not least is {Durable}. It's similar to Growing power in the sense that its durability grows with the user."

"Those are some interesting effects."Ainz said out loud while, thanking his emotional suppressor for keeping him calm. "_Those enchantments are outright broken! If I had them back in Yggdrasil, soloing a raid boss would have been easy."_

"Raphtalia could you equip this for a moment, I'd like to test something." Ainz asked, holding the shield out for the girl.

She took the shield and held it close to her chest. _"It's so light." _she thought then looked at Ainz with determination. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"No, just stay like that. I am going to remove you from the party for a moment then do something you will not like. Be prepared, it will happen quickly." the Overlord replied, quickly moving through his menu.

When he received a notification that Raphtalia had left he looked into her worried eyes. "Are you ready?" He asked. She gave a slow nod not really understanding why he was asking her to prepare, was he going to attack?

Having received confirmation, the Overlord turned his passive [Aura of Despair 1] on momentarily, turning it off just as quickly. It was only an instant but it was enough for the living occupants of the room - and anyone around - to go on edge, like the entire world had suddenly turned into an abyss of pure darkness.

The blacksmith took a step back, his instincts from his days as an adventurer, spurring him into grabbing his Warhammer from a wrack behind the counter. "What the hell was that?" He asked with anger.

Raphtalia on the other hand had begun to shiver behind the shield, eyes closed in fear, her body locked in place and pailed.

Ainz turned to acknowledge the blacksmith. "It was a wave of what you would call killing intent; that would be the easiest thing to compare it to. You said the item' stats would scale off the opponent of the wielder, this was the quickest way of testing it. Now would please be so kind as to let go of the weapon I don't actually want to fight you." He explained, turned back to the girl holding out his arm. A small green magic circle appeared just a few inches from his palm, rotating slowly with an inaudible hum.

Erhard did as suggested, letting go of his prized weapon and moved back to observe the spell that was being cast. Worried for the girl as she had yet to move.

[All Appraisal Magic Item] after the incantation information flooded into the Mind of Ainz giving him a full readout of its stats and abilities.

Yggdrasil Appraisal

**Starblade Shield ****(Hybrid item)**

Item class: Legendary (variable)

+40 magic resist (variable)

+50 physical resist (variable)

+80 fire resist (variable)

Special abilities

[Star flash] (Available for Relic class and above) - Releases a flash of heat that scales with the user' magical attack.

[Cutting edge] - Applies a bleeding effect to an opponent that lasts for 10 seconds or until the opponent dies. Scales with physical defence.

Enchantments

{Autonomous repair} - effect unknown

{Self cleaning} - effect unknown

{Air wake} - effect unknown

{Growing power} - effect unknown

{Durable}(variable) - effect unknown

{Defence up} (variable) - effect unknown

{Hp recovery} (small) - effect unknown

{Magic up} (small) - effect unknown

"_It's a Legendary class item! Hmm, I feel like I've been insulted somehow, maybe if I used Urru nextime... everything else is… I'm so confused, why does it scale with defence?"_

"Is she alright?" asked the blacksmith, still looking at the girl with concern.

"N-no." She whispered almost inaudibly.

Ainz walked over and kneeled down in front of her, placing his left hand upon her shoulder. "I did tell you to prepare." He said unapologetically.

"Prepare for what? I didn't know you were going to do that! I thought you were going to punch it or something?"

"That likely would have killed you…"

"Hmm." She pouted. "Just don't do it to me again!"

"Or me, I'm not working with you again if you do." Erhard threatened with a firm expression, crossing his arms.

"Noted." He said, trying to move on. "So, what has the final cost come to, including the wager?"

"Including the bet?" The blacksmith paused and pondered for a second. "Around two hundred gold pieces."

"Two hundred?!" The duo exclaimed in unison.

"How have you come to that conclusion if you don't mind me asking? It's much more than I expected." asked Ainz as his suppressor triggered.

"My new forge will cost at minimum one hundred and fifty, plus the hours spent working day and night, plus the rates of the mage's and finally the wager itself. It all adds up and if I remember right, one of the conditions you agreed to was, you would pay for forging costs."

Raphtalia looked at Ainz with a judging expression, one that seemed to ask "You didn't?" Unfortunately, he did.

"You are going to pay up right?"

"I always do, though I believe this will take some time to pay off. Instead, would you be willing to accept a trade item worth two hundred gold?" asked the Overlord.

"I doubt you are going to sell me your armor..."

"No," Ainz stated in cold denial. "When I was transported to this world I brought some items with me, I often used them as barter in foreign lands in case my currency wasn't accepted."

"That's smart. But It really depends on what it is and how much it's worth since I'm the one that is going to have to sell the damn thing."

Ainz nodded and reached into his inventory - not bothering to hide it - and pulled out a longsword with a dark blue blade, four brightly glowing runes stretching from one end of the polished green guard to the other. "Perhaps you will find this adequate?" he asked, placing it down on the counter.

"Sure looks fancy… where did you get it?"

"I was given it by the king of my country." He replied with a prideful tone. Technically it wasn't a lie, he often gave some of these same swords to Pandora - as Momon - when he went on long missions to distant places. During these jobs he was ordered to sell or show them to people of power, lending credit to the Sorcerous kingdom as a producer of the _Lost_ art of Runecraft™.

The sword was one of many mass productions, made of adamantite for the blade, oricalcum for the guard and hilt with a platinum pommel and tanned bargast hide for the grip.

They were mostly meant as decorative items, so, while they could be used in real combat they were not meant to be and the runes applied to it reflected their intended purpose. They were all lesser runes. Air for lightness, Stone for durability, Water for cleanliness and Light to give it a glow that would make it seem, to the untrained eye, worth more than it actually was.

"Won't your king be mad if you use that sword for something like this?" asked the girl looking the sword up and down.

Ainz turned his head to address her. "No. I have absolute autonomy with regards to financial decisions like these."

"What was your job? I don't think I've asked you before." Raphtalia inquired, turning her head to regard him with an inquisitive look.

"I am - was an adventurer, I took jobs from the adventures guild or more often than not my King. They took me all over the world, interacting with previously unknown civilizations and the monsters that would actively try to destroy them."

"Does that mean you were like one of the heroes in your world?"

"Not in the way you would use the term 'hero',but yes, something like that."

"Speaking of… I don't want to sound impatient with you two, but I opened up early so we could do this and we're getting close to opening time; suns coming up." Erhard pointed to one of the windows at the other end of the shop.

"Yes, we should hurry, there are other places we need to be." Ainz said, turning his head to the window to acknowledge the smith's point, then back to him and placed the longsword on the counter.

The blacksmith held his hand over the sword and whispered an incantation, a moment later his expression widened briefly then settled into a contemplative look. "This sword is... risky."

Before Ainz could inquire as to his meaning the girl spoke up. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"It's worth a decent amount of what you owe me, but that means I still have to sell it to someone in order to get the money out of it. The people who have that kind of money are either Nobles or high merchants."

"Hmm, I suppose I should have considered that… How long do you believe it will take to find a buyer for the sword?"

"I don't know man, it could take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks. If I used the fact that it's from another world; that could speed the sale up a bit, though at this price point, not much." the blacksmith explained.

"I see, then if you don't have a problem with it i'll leave the shield here until you find a buyer for the sword. It is only fare, and my current financials are lacking for something like this, I only have ten gold and a handful of silvers to my name."

"Our name..." Raphtalia huffed.

Erhard closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. "It'll be rough, I won't be able to take custom orders until it's sold, but I'll get by."

"Suzuki?" the girl asked, exaggerating his name.

"Yes?" the Overlord returned, wondering where she was taking this.

"Why don't you make him a forge with your magic? I know you can do it." she stated with a smug smirk, like she was daring him to do it.

"I could, but it would only be temporary and its durability would be extremely limited."

"So? It's the least you could do."

Erhard looked at the two with a dumbfounded expression. "What do you mean "make me a forge"?"

Ainz let out an exhausted sigh, dipping his head slightly. "I will have to show you, it seems. Could you guide me to your forge area?"

Erhard looked at the shield hero with a sceptical look, then began to move. "This way." he said, flipping the green curtain over his shoulder.

Ainz and Raphtalia entered the back section of the shop, on the left loose crates of weapons and armor piled on top of one another on either side of a degrading wooden door. On the right was the forge. Its condition was just pitiable, effectively reduced to a solidified pile of molten rock with a smoldering pile of ash at its center.

"Wow." The girl remarked. "Where did you get metal that could do this?" she pointed to the sad pile.

"The lava fields of the Azerlisia Mountains." Ainz replied in a bored tone, the real lore behind the metal was much more interesting. "_Star Silver is formed inside the Demon star of Muspelheim. This metal made its way, atom by atom out of the core of the star over the course of billions of years until it eventually clumped together and fell to the hell world below... At Least that's how I think it went." _

"Lava fields? Well that explains why it was so damn hard to heat, especially if it was naturally tempered over time." Erhard stated with a thoughtful expression.

"_Well, we did actually find different metal down there, but it turned out to be just a more resilient form of Adamantite." _

"So what was it you wanted to show me?"

"This." Ainz stepped forward and held out his hand, pointing directly at the destroyed forge. _[Silent: Break greater item]_ thin lines of glowing green began to creep their way around the forge until it shattered like a piece of glass, particles starting to drift off into the ether.

"Whoa… well at least now I don't have to worry about paying someone to remove it-"

"I'm not finished. [Silent: Create greater item]" A bright, shimmering light filled the dark room for a moment and in the place of the destroyed forge was a new one made of thick black stone. "I was unsure of the design you wanted so I simply copied one from my world."

"I see," the blacksmith said slowly. "So… why did you need me to create the shield when you could have just done this?" the blacksmith asked with an agitated tone.

Ainz shook his head. "Items created with magic are much weaker than the real thing, if you require an example..."

"Na, that won't be necessary, I believe you. I just wanted to make sure that was the case, you know, since your metal broke my stuff."

"*Cough* anyway, you should be able to work with some normality until you acquire a new forge. This is only a temporary measure."

"Great! Now that we fixed it, maybe we could take the shield with us, Beloukas said to prepare for a long trip. We might need it. And I want to try using a shield." The girl exclaimed excitedly with bright eyes and a wagging tail.

"No we ar-"

"It's fine, take it, call it a field test." the blacksmith waved dismissively. "You supplied a temporary fix and even if I never see you guys again, I'll make enough money off that sword to be fine in the long run."

"I see, you have my thanks." Ainz replied.

"That's great! Also, don't worry, even if I have to force him, we will come back here."

"That is good to hear." Erhard said, lightly patting the head of the girl. "Just make sure he pays the rest."

_"And just like that I'm out of money again. I hope Beloukas has something for me."_

"I will!" She exclaimed with a bright smile.

…

* * *

Well that's all folks, I'll see you in the next one!

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